Cullen Evolution
by maxigrumpling
Summary: Book Five, Cullen's Pride, Phoenix Rising, Bella's Dawn, Rosies Angel. At wars end life must go on for the Cullen clan. Things have changed significantly. The new council is formed. Believing the Romanian threat to be lifted they plan a bright future.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does. I am just lucky enough to get to mess with her wonderful characters.**

Cullen Evolution – Part the First.

**Prologue**

After the Romanians were defeated life was forever changed for the Cullen's and their friends and families in the supernatural world. A new baby, Angel, was brought into the fold by Emmett and Rosalie and a new council was formed within the vampire community.

Ties with the wolves were strengthened with the inclusion of the wolves into the council. As the relationship between Renesmee and Seth evolves so does the interaction between the pack and the covens.

Edward tries to put the parting thoughts of Stefan's 'son' Raul out of mind as he prepared to open his school and take his place as the first chairman of the newly formed council. But a nagging doubt throbs in the back of his mind as he goes about reforming his life.

For his part Raul does his best to resist the blackness forming in his heart and in his mind. His brain wants revenge but his heart wants to rise to the greatness his father had taught him to desire. Shadows begin to creep in and he relents, embracing them, with dire consequences.

Spanning four years this story will follow the lives of the vampires that had stood on both sides of the clearing that fateful day.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The format for this book will be slightly different. There may be long periods where we only hear from Edward and Bella, but there may be other points of view interspersed as the story requires. **

**You will also notice that you'll be able to follow what's happening in Romania as you move through this book. I wrestled with the decision to include that aspect or to leave it to the imagination, but decided that in order to understand Daria and Raul's intentions it was necessary. Feedback as to how it flows would be appreciated as I am still unsure if it works all that well. **

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Chapter 1 – Year One - At War's End

**EPOV**

"There is only one way to redeem yourself Eleazar." I growled at the man who stood cowering from me. I released his throat and straightened my shirt. I hadn't planned to touch him in any way, but he brought out the monster inside me every time. We'd been arguing for a solid hour, neither making any headway nor coming even remotely close to a compromise or an understanding. I was as unwilling as ever to tolerate even his presence.

He too straightened his clothing, squared his shoulders and attempted to steady his thoughts. "Anything. I'll do whatever you ask of me Edward." He said. He meant it too.

I was so stunned at his sincerity I almost gave in. Then my thoughts turned to what we'd just faced and what we'd had to do to defend Renesmee and Seth from our enemies and knew that if I ever forgave him it likely wouldn't be inside this century.

"Go home Eleazar. Take your wife and go home and don't come back until you are invited." I told him. I spun on my heel and prepared myself for the run home.

He grabbed my arm, tearing the seam on my shirt. I turned quickly and slid into a crouch. It was involuntary when one of us was touched by someone we didn't trust, but Eleazar was shocked all the same.

He let go immediately and spread his palms, face up, to show he meant no malice. "Edward, please." He pled. "You can't mean to leave this as it stands. Our families are bound, and not just by nature, but my hundreds of years of loyalty and trust."

I stood from my crouch and sneered at him. "Exactly, old man." I snorted with derision. "Hundreds of years of loyalty and trust that you chose to ignore when you went to Romania and betrayed me. I cannot, and will not, forgive it or forget it."

His shoulders slumped. "Someone was bound to be betrayed. You or my brothers, it was an impossible choice. I told them nothing they couldn't easily find out for themselves, I swear."

I'd heard all this before. 'Poor Eleazar, do I betray Edward or do I betray Stefan and Vladimir'. I wasn't buying the bullshit he was selling. He'd had a choice not to betray anyone; all he had to do was keep his mouth shut.

"Had you stayed in Denali and said nothing you could've spared yourself this guilt you are feeling and I wouldn't have had to do what I've done." I told him with a cold laugh.

He took a step backwards then. He looked defeated and his thoughts confirmed it. "You're right. I should've stayed out of it. But you must understand it's what I've always done. For two thousand years it's all I've known. Meet new vampires, quantify their abilities and go to my brothers with the information. It's never resulted in a battle before and I didn't expect it to this time." He spread his hands again. "You can see it in my head Edward, there was never a notion that your wife being a shield and your daughter being a savant would cause a problem the magnitude of the one we just fended off. How could it? Shields aren't rare and savants are useless to anyone other than the savant themselves. There was never any doubt in my mind that giving that information away would put an end to any enquiry my brothers had regarding your life and coven here."

If it was possible I became angrier at that. "You fucking moron, you cannot be so blind, surely?" I raged. I stepped closer to him, he cringed away in fear. "The problem was never their gifts and you know it. It was the wolves you fucking bastard." I spat.

He stepped backwards attempting to put a little distance between us in case I lost my tempter fully. He was right to retreat; I was close to ending him. I had wanted to do it before the fight and I hadn't changed my mind as yet.

He thought carefully about his next words but they only enraged me further. His duplicity was clear as he spoke, "When asked I told them your daughters mate was not a vampire, it's true, but I never said the word werewolf." He tried to bargain with lies!

I let the side of my mouth curl up into another snarl. I grabbed the front of his shirt and cracked my neck as I prepared to challenge his statement. His eyes filled with fear, his thoughts were for Carmen as he said his goodbyes. "You told them she was bonded with a shifter who just happened to look like a wolf and you think that is not leading the fucking horse to water Eleazar?" I bellowed into his face.

"I didn't know that then, I do now. I thought they'd listen to me, they always had before." He pled. "I had no reason to think they wouldn't this time." I tightened my grip on his shirt and pulled him closer as he dribbled his bullshit. "I explained to them the difference between Seth and what they'd hunted in Siberia. When I left I had their assurance that they understood that difference."

"Oh, well, that changes everything." I laughed. I let his shirt go and he relaxed, idiot. I shifted my feet and put my hand to his throat again. I squeezed. "If they said they believed you then that is good enough for me." I laughed. "And when they continued with their enquiries what did you think then Eleazar? Did you still think, even after you knew that every coven member who'd met Nessa and Seth had been questioned, that their enquiries were harmless? What about when they started asking about the treaty? What did you think then? Did you still believe their assurances then?" I bellowed into his gasping face.

"No. I didn't." He tried to hang his head but with my hand at his throat he couldn't.

"So you did nothing, you let this happen. I had to kill a man Eleazar. Fucking Carlisle may never recover from what he had to do in that clearing. We created an orphan for Christ's sake! My daughter had to watch twenty vampires burn. And you did nothing to stop it! You'll rot in hell for that." I told him. I brought my other hand up to his chin, I reached across the hand at his throat and prepared to remove his head.

"I went to Siberia." He whispered just as I was getting a good grip.

**BPOV**

I felt Carlisle's hand at my back as we were ushered into the small room. "Please sit." Harry Clearwater waved a hand at the two chairs that had been lined up facing where the tribunal sat.

I was nervous even though I hadn't done anything wrong. It felt like sitting outside the principal's office and not knowing for which offence you'd been summoned.

Carlisle seemed calm beside me so I tried to relax. If he wasn't worried then I shouldn't be either. Seth sat off to the side a little bit. Sam and Paul sat either side him, they were both smiling widely at us. Another clue that we weren't in trouble, hopefully.

I was surrounded by the scent of wolf but the overriding scent was of human. The three older men who sat at the long table in front of us were all humans and my thirst crept up my throat unexpectedly. I was in good control, I wasn't worried about resisting them, but it was still strange for me to have to fight my nature at all. Since having Seth's blood that day I'd been a little extra careful and had a slightly deeper burn to contend with.

"Seth has recounted for us his role in ending the vampire Santiago." Harry began. He looked left then right down the long table of his peers. They all nodded their agreement at his statement. "As head of the Cullen coven we extend our gratitude to you, Carlisle Cullen, for all you did for Jack, Paul and Brady."

Carlisle hung his head as he answered. He was a different person since the war. So much quieter, not that he'd ever been loud or boisterous, but now he rarely spoke unless spoken to. I could count on one hand the number of words he'd spoken to me since Sunday. "I could do nothing for Brady, I'm sorry." He whispered.

I saw Seth, Sam and Paul flinch as they began to protest Carlisle's statement. Harry, however, held up his hand and stopped them from speaking. "It is our belief that the body of the dead should be guarded until its spirit can be set free. You posted a guard for Brady's body, you kept his spirit safe from ghosts who would want to inhabit his body. The Quileute thank you Carlisle Cullen." Harry said very formally.

Billy Black spoke next. I couldn't look him in the eye despite knowing his relationship with Edward was better, if still strained. "A ceremonial burial will be held tomorrow and the Cullen coven is invited to attend, as you made the Quileute welcome at the farewelling of your dead."

Carlisle nodded again but said nothing. Not even a thank you. He was lost.

I had no idea why I was here. This was treaty business and I knew that women were usually not privy to meetings like this. Quite apart from that, this was nothing to do with me. Whether or not we'd attend Brady's funeral was up to Carlisle, or Edward if Carlisle deferred to him, as he was doing more and more often now. I wanted to ask why I had been asked to come but I didn't get the chance.

The man who spoke next I'd never seen, or met. He was bigger than Harry and darker than Billy. He had black tattoos up his arms and another on his neck, he was older than the two other men as well. "Isabella Cullen the tribunal wishes to extend its thanks to you for your part in the saving of Seth Clearwater's life. We understand that you may suffer for the quick thinking action that led to his survival, and for that we are truly sorry." He bowed his head, as did Harry and Billy.

Okay. This is weird. Why would I suffer? "I don't understand." I whispered.

"Your thirst Bella." Carlisle whispered.

"Oh." I said quietly. I looked at Seth and smiled. "I'm actually fine. I was extra, um, hungry, for a couple of days, but I'm okay now." I told the tribunal.

Harry smiled widely. "That is good to hear." He nodded and the others did too.

We were dismissed then. It had been brief and a little confusing for me, but I was glad to be able to go outside gain. When we'd all filed out of the room Seth came right to my side. He slid his hand into mine and squeezed. We did this all the time now. Like me, he only felt better when the four of us were together and close. Physical contact was comforting. It would wear off, eventually, I had no doubt. But for now our strange little family needed to be together as much as possible.

"Hey." He said as we began the walk back to where I'd parked Carlisle's Mercedes. Carlisle had not only not cared how we got here, but he'd told me to drive when it was time to leave. He didn't ask me to drive, he told me to drive. He wasn't nasty about it though, it was as if he just didn't care about anything anymore.

I pushed the button on the keys in my hand and unlocked the car. Carlisle slid into the passenger seat and closed the door, I turned back to Seth. "Hey. That was intense." I nodded back towards the building where the tribunal had met.

"Yeah." He agreed. "It's been a bit like that here this week." He sighed.

"Yeah, I guess it would be."

"So I'll come over later, yeah?" He asked hopefully.

I stepped closer and kissed his cheek. "Of course. Come when you're ready, we'll be there. Nessa will need you." I told him.

She'd not slept very well since the fight. She'd been eager enough to go to her bed, she was exhausted after long days with guests, but she didn't stay asleep and woke a few times during the night crying. I held her and rocked her back to sleep most times, but both Edward and Seth had taken a turn here and there.

Seth still slept on the futon despite Edward telling him he could sleep in Nessa's room while we all recovered. He wouldn't have it though. He said he didn't want to set a precedent only to have to switch back later on. It made sense but I was sure Nessa would recover faster if he was closer to her.

Twice she'd woken crying and gone straight to him, snuggling down beside him in _his _bed. He had no way to stop that without hurting her further so he quietly accepted that when she did it, but he still outright refused to make a habit of sleeping near her or in her room.

It would take a while for us all to get back to normal. It would take some time to be comfortable apart again, even for a few hours while Seth and Nessa went to school or Carlisle and Edward went to work again. Seth was constantly seeking reassurance that his presence was both needed and wanted at the cottage. I did my best to show him that it was. That being near him meant as much to me as it did to him. He ghosted Edward when we were all in the cottage and shadowed me when Edward was gone.

We'd have to sit down and talk about it once the funeral was over and things settled down again.

As I drove us home I wrestled with whether or not to talk to Carlisle about how he was feeling. It was such an awkward silence and he seemed so sad. Edward told me that he was keeping an eye on Carlisle and his thoughts, but so far he had no clue how to help our father.

My own father had been so relieved to see us all that he'd pulled me into a tight hug as soon as he'd been able to. It was so unlike him, but I understood his relief. He honestly thought he was never going to see any of us ever again and at the time I'd been convinced of exactly the same thing. My mother cried a lot now, mostly when we had to go home or she was leaving us. Edward assured me it would pass, that she'd soon get used to us being around for the long haul again and when her brain let her realize we were all alright again she'd calm down. When she was with Nessa she very rarely left her side for more than a few moments at a time. I knew how she felt.

The quietness in Carlisle's Mercedes enveloped me as I drove. When we were through the gates of the Rez and back out onto the regular road I did the only thing I could think of to do, to let him know I was there for him, without having to break the silence. I slid my hand across the console and put it in his as it rested on his thigh.

He sighed but didn't remove his hand from mine. He gave me the softest squeeze, so gentle I may have imagined it, but he said nothing.

Quiet was okay, for now.

**Romania**

The castle was filled with grief as well as biting cold for the first months after the trio returned to their home.

Ana retreated to her rooms without a word the instant she set foot inside the castle. She dropped her travel documents on the floor and fled to what had been her marital bed. Her sobs and cries could be heard all along the top floors of the castle. The servants were advised to steer clear and it would be weeks before either Daria or Raul would attempt to visit with their 'aunt'. She refused each request for an audience and did not interact with another soul until, after three long weeks, Daria breached the door locks and demanded Ana at least feed.

Raul brought a young man to her rooms and laid him at her feet. He was a convicted criminal, charged with theft and assault and battery of a minor, and due to be transported to Jilava prison the following day.

Loathing that his mother and father had both chosen their prey from within the local districts – and often more than one member from a family – Raul was more discerning. Both his parents had enjoyed the unsuspecting tourists the guards lured to them on the pretence of a guided tour of the bowels of the castle. He thought it cruel and unnecessary. He preyed upon the scum of the earth, the prisoners and murderers that lurked on the fringes of society. He believed that redeemed him in the eyes of his god and that his removal of the sick and disturbed criminals was a community service. It mattered little to Ana.

When she hesitated Raul pierced the man's jugular by running his fingernail swiftly across his Adams apple, spilling his blood on the rug at the trembling woman's feet. She dived on the hapless man and drank hungrily from him. When she was sated she returned, in silence, to her bed.

Raul disposed of the man's body and retreated back to his own rooms.

It would become a regular occurrence. Daria would try pleading with her aunt, Ana would ignore her pointedly. Raul would be pushed only so far and then he would 'acquire' a meal on her behalf from the prison population that worked his fields for community service. Ana would protest until Raul spilled the victim's blood. Ana's bloodlust would ignite and she would feed. After this occurred several more times Ana became aggressive after she'd fed. She ranted and raved and all but threw her niece and nephew from the room, locking the doors behind her. An unnecessary security measure as both Raul and Daria were more than able to rip the entire door from its hinges. But they respected Ana's right to privacy and in between these forced feedings they left her to her own devices.

Raul, to his credit, threw himself into castle life, desperate to prove that he was capable of running the estate as his late father had. Stefan had been revered and respected and Raul hoped to emulate that as best he could.

Never expecting Stefan could be defeated Raul had never bothered to learn how the castle and its farms worked. Stefan had provided everything from his clothing to his entertainment and it was all made available to him inside the protected walls of the castle. He'd never had to approve crop rotation schedules or worry about summer storms flattening wheat and barley crops. He had led a life of privilege and leisure. Now though, he was thrown into the unenviable position of having to become lord of the manor and assume his father's position at the helm of the operation with no one to guide him.

With three thousand farm workers all relying on an income from what the castles land could produce Raul felt the responsibility heavily. His only thought previously for how the farmers survived on the harsh land had been for the money they brought into the castle that allowed him to maintain his lavish lifestyle. He had never cared what they did with their share, but now that he was responsible for balancing the budget he became acutely aware of how much it cost to run such a colossal enterprise and just how fragile the entire operation was. He found himself having to work hard to help them protect that way of life, and not just for himself. Thousands relied on the crops being fruitful and on his managers getting a fair and decent price for those crops at market. He was suddenly thrust into the world of finance and global economic structures.

Determined not to fail Raul summoned his father's business advisors and threw himself into learning all aspects of how the castle and its land operated.

Late at night, when the castle slept, Raul could be found in his father's study poring over huge volumes of figures. He immersed himself in all facets of the castles operation and by the time of the first harvest he was confident he could help his people prepare for another year.

It gave him a sense of satisfaction that he'd helped turn a profit and that those funds would support the farmers and the castle for another year.

Daria, too, hoped to immerse herself in life in and around the castle to stave off the longing she'd felt every second of every day after leaving the clearing. The little girl her father had gone there to murder had been like her! Half human, half vampire. She'd never known another of her kind and in that clearing there had been three! Two females and a male. Hell, before she'd entered the clearing she wasn't even all that sure what she actually was.

She lived balanced on the edge of a high wall never really knowing on which side she belonged. Did she belong with the full blooded vampires who hunted human prey and kept to the shadows, or should she venture out into the human world and make her own way?

Staying with vampires as she had done for all of her one hundred and ninety-five years she'd never know any more about herself than she did right now. No opportunity to explore her specific nature. No chance to find a mate of her own.

But, on the other hand, if she ventured past the walls of the castle and into the human world she didn't know what she would find there. Stefan had been cautious in the extreme with Daria's protection. She believed herself to be vulnerable to human illnesses and sicknesses and Stefan had told her of the plots of men who hunted her kind outside the castle walls.

She had always doubted the truth in that, always slightly wondered if Stefan wanted her where he could see her, control her, so he invented these serious plots to keep her inside the castle's gates. After all, Stefan had not baulked at taking her with him to America and she had been quite safe had not once succumbed to any illness or disease in the outside world.

The others of her kind had moved about the field at will that day, she'd seen them. They'd mingled with the vampires freely and had even interacted with the werewolves. She'd been taught to not only fear wolves of any kind but also to report any sighting of one to her father or her Uncle Vladimir immediately. So why then did the other three of her kind not fear them as she had been taught?

The members of her father's guard had always treated Daria with ill concealed distaste, as though she was somehow less than they were. Was she? Was she only worth half what they were to her father because she was only half a vampire? She'd never been mistreated, far from it, but she'd never really been included either. She had been left out of discussions and lessons too. She'd always assumed it was to protect her from plots, that interactions with other vampires and humans would be dangerous to her, it's what Stefan had always told her. But now, now that she'd seen for herself the way the other three of her kind had moved amongst vampire and wolf alike, she began to wonder.

She could ask her Aunt Ana but she had refused to receive anyone since they'd returned to Romania and she knew, deep down inside her, that asking Raul would be a mistake. His distrust of the vampires in the clearing had always been as strong as their fathers had been. She felt sure he would perpetrate the same lies their father had. No, Raul would not help her discover what she was, she would have to do this on her own.

**EPOV**

I let him go the instant the word Siberia left his lips. I could tell from his thoughts he was sincere. He really had gone to Siberia for us.

"Explain." I demanded. I took two small paces backward, not far enough away to let him relax and I had no intention of letting him run should he attempt to.

He spread his hands for the third time, trying desperately to show me that he was no threat to me. "I went to Siberia. I thought if I could find an actual werewolf and bring it to them they'd see the difference. They would see that it couldn't change unless it was a full moon. They'd interrogate it, of course, and when it couldn't slip in and out of its two forms to save itself, as your wolves could, I'd have proved my point and they'd leave you alone." He sped through the words as though his fear of me built the longer his explanation took. He was right to be scared.

"And?" I asked.

"I failed. I couldn't find one. They've hunted them to extinction. The northern ice sheet was melting so their habitat was already shrinking and then Stefan and Vladimir launched their all out war on them, there aren't any to be found. If there are they are well hidden." He slumped in defeat.

Jesus. From what I could see of his thoughts he'd spent months up there searching. Attempting to track anything that smelled remotely like a wolf. He'd paid natives to keep watch and to notify him if anything even closely related to a wolf stuck its head out of a cave or crevasse. Shit.

"Edward please." He whispered. "I admit that what I've done looks like I betrayed you but it was never my intention. I made a mistake and I paid for it. I had to help Carlisle kill my own brother and I had to watch you end the other. I've plenty to atone for but I truly did try to make good what I'd done to you and your family." He was all but sobbing as he finished the speech.

I was torn. I wanted to kill him for what he'd done to bring the Romanians here in the first place, but couldn't deny the fact that he'd tried to rectify it many times over. And it was true that he'd stood with us, helped us plan our strategy and had given us valuable information about the guard and what they could achieve. Add to that the fact that he had indeed helped Carlisle end Vladimir and his loyalty to me and my family was crystal clear.

I might not like it, but there it was.

Could I forgive him simply because we'd won in the end? Should I?

In the end I decided not to kill him, but forgiveness was a ways off.

"Go home Eleazar. I won't wish you dead again. Perhaps after a generation I might even forgive you, ask me again then."

**BPOV**

A whole month after the war and Edward still growled at the mention of Eleazar's name. It was frustrating for me because I was close to Carmen and the Denali girls and their mates. There was a reason their coven was called our cousins, we were family and I wanted us to be able to act like one. But Edward would not relent.

He told me nothing of his discussion with Eleazar from the day they'd gone home and refused to answer any calls or participate in any conversation that had anything to do with Eleazar. It was the only grudge I'd ever known Edward to hold.

He'd even relaxed his general loathing of Randall since the charming Australian had gone to live with Kate, and I never thought I'd live long enough to admit that. In fact, he'd calmed his attitude toward Randall so much that he'd taken Randall's calls on numerous occasions and had also emailed him quite a few times. I knew it was council business and not social, but still, Edward wouldn't even talk to Eleazar about council business.

A lot of other things had changed in the month since the war too.

Brady's funeral had been awful. The pack gave him an enormous send off, but it was just all so very sad. His parents were broken people and I knew it would never have happened if it wasn't for me. Edward was jumpy and angry and upset for days afterwards, but I left him alone to deal with his guilt and his grief as he wished. I had hoped that Carlisle could help him but he was as broken as Brady's parents.

Angel's arrival took us all by surprise but not Edward or Alice who had known we were going to have a baby in the house for a few days longer than the rest of us. I'd been shocked to learn about Eric and his mate May and I felt very guilty that my child and her mate had caused Angel to become an orphan. Edward did too. He told me how hard it had been to keep Eric's demise a secret from me the day before the fight and also how difficult it had been for Alice to know for certain about the death of another and be powerless to prevent it. It went against all that Alice knew about her gift. She'd only ever used it to thwart such things and it hit her hard that knowing wasn't always the same as being able to avert.

Edward and Alice closeted themselves away quite often in the few days after Rosie and Em returned with the baby in their arms. I guessed it was so that they could come to terms with how they'd handled the situation, but I also figured it was something that even Jasper and I couldn't comfort them about. This time it was me who told Jaz to be patient when the two of them ran off into the woods one night to be alone. He smiled, kissed the back of my hand and told me I was a good girl. I guessed he meant I was finally getting with the program that was Edward and Alice.

Angel herself was a delight. She grew so fast and it was such a joy for me to have another tiny baby around the house to occupy my time. I'd had to relent and allow Nessa to go back to school once all our guests had gone home, so I was feeling a little empty with nobody to mother. Seth had returned too and Nessa was missing her friends and her normal routine. As much as she adored Angel, and that was plenty, she got bored hanging around the big house while Esme Rosie and I fawned all over the tiny creature.

Seth pined for Nessa even more than he had before. Like us, thinking about having had her for only a short time and the possibility of losing her had made him more determined to protect her at all costs, sometimes to his own detriment. Living through all he had, including thinking he was going to die, had changed Seth permanently. It was as though he shook off his adolescence in the clearing that day. He might have looked like a man for quite a while but now he behaved like one. He was a little more serious and a whole lot more protective of both Nessa and me.

At seventeen and heading into his junior year he should've been spending his time getting into mischief with his friends and leering at girls, but instead he spent every minute he could at the cottage or the big house with Nessa. I worried that he was wasting his childhood but he'd taken such offence at the mention of it that I'd dropped it straight away. Edward assured me he was keeping an eye on him so I had to be content with that. Edward understood how he was feeling and why he never left her side if he could help it. I remembered a time when I had wished for that for Edward, so he didn't need to suffer through being apart from me as I'd grown up. After that I left Seth alone, if he wanted to spend all his time with Nessa that was his business, and not mine.

While Angel occupied us women the men were a different story in those first few weeks after the war.

Emmett started building the new house in the woods within hours of them arriving home with Angel. He had a picture in his mind what he wanted and Rosie had given him carte blanche to do it. I expected her to want a say in almost everything, but she was so completely overwhelmed with all things Angel she said, quite often, that she didn't care what he built as long as it was done in time for the christening. I was pleased to hear that he was having trouble finding a tub bigger than ours though. I did manage to stop from poking my tongue out at him, mostly.

Jasper returned to his old self faster than any of us. He told me that was because he'd seen so many wars already. He'd lived through the Civil War and then through the Southern Vampire Wars as well. I also knew he coped so well, far better than the rest of us anyway, because he was essentially the closest to what he truly was than all the rest of us combined. He was a vampire and vampires killed. He knew it and embraced that about himself while the rest of us fought it. He would never kill indiscriminately and I knew he refrained from human blood because of his devotion to Alice, but I also knew he held no guilt for what he'd had to do in the clearing. It was kill or be killed as far as Jasper was concerned. In a way I envied him that.

He was already working on lesson plans for when the school year began. I hadn't even opened a diary to see how long I had to prepare and he was already hard at work. It was going to be tough to catch up in time for the college to open.

Angel's christening was going to happen at the end of august, giving Emmett four months to have the house finished and be ready to begin classes when Edward's school opened.

Every step of the build was helped along by massive bribes. Planning permission was rushed through with a check, foundations were dug in record time with the accompaniment of a massive check, and the glass walls that he wanted to have along one entire side of the house were pressed and delivered within days of his order because of the number of zeros on the payment slip. He never took no for an answer when it came to dealing with contractors or suppliers and he had the frame work up within the first month. He was ruthless when it came to that house and it scared me to think what he could achieve if he set his heart on something evil instead of good.

Invitations hadn't been sent out for the christening yet but we knew it was going to be a huge affair. There were so many of us now and we had so many new friends to counter into the equation that it was going to go well over a hundred visitors. Alice was in heaven just thinking about all the arrangements. The guests wouldn't stay as long as they had for the war so we would just rent hotel rooms this time. Plus we'd have extra room for some to stay because Rosie's house would be finished. I wondered who would stay with us in the cottage this time.

When Carlisle was with Nessa and Angel he was his old self again. He laughed and joked with them and smiled. His beautiful face lit up whenever one of those little girls was near or demanding his attention. Angel, like Nessa, captivated him and he liked nothing better than just being with them.

He was rarely at home now though. He spent more and more time at the hospital. Perhaps he was seeking redemption by helping more and more people? I didn't know and I didn't want to ask Edward to find out. At least he couldn't suffer exhaustion, it was a small consolation.

Apart from the day we'd driven home from the Rez together he never looked at me or spoke to me personally. It hurt me deeply but I understood it. I felt guilty for everything that had had to happen because of me, so I didn't doubt that he blamed me for what he'd had to do.

I thought the two of them, Carlisle and Edward, would throw themselves into planning for the council but they didn't. Edward went back to work at his school and Carlisle went to the hospital. The council seemed to fall by the wayside except for the emails going back and forth between Randall and Edward. I thought I'd give it a bit longer before I asked what was going on with it. It had only been a month since the war, after all.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. If you have enjoyed this chapter please review. If you didn't enjoy it and can pinpoint why I'd be grateful if you could review and let me know so I can fix it. Thanks so much. **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 – Year One – A Shift Slightly Left

**EPOV**

"Can you feel my tingles?" I chuckled.

Nessa lay on the floor at my feet. She was facing away from me, watching some horrid cartoon sponge flip burgers in a restaurant run by a cranky crab.

"Nope, do it again daddy." She giggled, obviously blocking me quite effectively.

I leant down and tickled her under her ribs, she dropped her shield the instant she started giggling and I was easily able to read her then. She wriggled in my hands and I laughed along with her. "How about now, do you feel my tingles now?"

She wrenched herself free of me and ran to the other side of the room and sat down on the piano bench. She put her hands on her hips and settled the most adorable cross look on her face. She was so much like Bella. "That's cheating daddy, nobody likes a cheater." She scowled.

I was going to argue and say that her mother liked it very much when I cheated and managed to get my hands on her even though she was busy or protesting, but thought better of it. Being able to be read by a 6 year old wasn't always the most amazing situation to find myself in.

"I won't cheat again. Come on, we need to keep practising." I beckoned her back to her spot on the floor and she eventually gave in and lay back down.

"Why can't we practise playing instead?" She grumbled but let her shield down so I could read from her anyway.

I totally agreed. I would much rather practise playing the piano with her than practise her mental exercises. She could read me quite easily and she had mastered blocking me from her thoughts too, but she was having trouble isolating Seth and Bella's mental voices, so we practised every day.

It was now two months since we'd learned of her changing gift and I'd done my best to help her come to terms with it. Zafrina had been instrumental in getting Nessa to see the difference between her memory projections and being able to project a fictitious image and she'd also been the one to see the evolution of her gift. I wasn't surprised. I'd been so caught up in planning for the fight that I'd missed a lot of things.

Zafrina and Alistair forming a bond was one thing I'd missed. Another was just how deeply into depression Carlisle had fallen.

Jasper barely tolerated being near him now. Carlisle's self loathing had gotten so out of hand that he'd begun to question not only his continued existence but also his worth to the hospital. He continued to attend his shifts but I was going to have to intervene soon. I didn't want to, I wanted him to come to grips with his actions on his own, but he was treading dangerously close to contemplating suicide and I couldn't abide that. Not when it was my fault he was feeling the way he was.

I was complicit in many ways, but the most significant of my sins was not stepping in and ending Vladimir myself. I'd had time. I'd had motive and I'd damn well have enjoyed it far more than Carlisle had at the time. I'd heard his thoughts as he reefed the bastards head off his shoulders. They weren't consumed with self loathing then. He'd felt powerful, strong and in control. He'd done it out of loyalty to me and I felt so very guilty for it.

Eleazar had coerced him in the end, told him he must do it, but it had been Carlisle's choice to do the actual deed. But I still felt as though I was ultimately responsible for what had happened. I'd begged him to let us form an army, I'd begged him to help us contact as many covens as we could and I'd begged him to stand beside me during the fight. If not for that he wouldn't have been anywhere near the action and could, quite possibly, have been able to avoid the way he was feeling now had he just lingered at the back of the formation and tended the injured instead of participating.

I'd have to live with that decision. I'd have to come to grips with the series of decisions that put Carlisle in the front row and that saw him paired up with Eleazar to tackle Vladimir. At the time it had made sense. That two of the most experienced vampires among us should be the ones to take down one of the oldest and most experienced of our enemies. But in the end all it had done was send Carlisle into a spiral of depression.

I'd have to step in, soon.

I let Nessa watch another few minutes of her cartoon and then began to push at her mental shield again. I didn't know if she realized she had a 'tell' when I was trying to read her, but she did. Each time I attempted to probe her thoughts she curled her fingers into a little fist as if she were physically forcing me out using her hands to push me away.

I couldn't feel her reading me though, and that worried me. There were so many thoughts a small girl should never be privy too. And not just the dirty ones either. My head was cavernous and held so many secrets. Other people's secrets as well as my own. Things I'd never divulged to anyone and things that nobody knew I knew. But her having access to my dirty thoughts scared me most of all. Like how gorgeous Bella was in her dark blue skinny jeans. How much I wanted to run my hands over the curve of her ass as she bent down into the bowels of the refrigerator to find something or other for Nessa's meal just now.

"Dinner time Nessa." Bella called from the little kitchen and I startled.

I'd been staring at her and hadn't noticed Nessa getting to her feet. She now stood right in front of me, hands at her hips, scowl on her face. She waggled her finger at me. "I don't want to know peoples secrets daddy and I 'specially don't want to know about mommy's skinny backside." She huffed.

My mouth fell open as I watched her go into the kitchen and take her place at the table for her meal. Bella threw me the dirtiest look over Nessa's head but honestly, what was I supposed to do? The kid had read it right from my head, I couldn't hide it from her anymore than anyone else could hide their thoughts from me.

"Nessa, we've talked about this." Bella admonished the little girl who sat happily chewing her dinner.

"Daddy said I was supposed to practise, it's not my fault he was thinking about your bottom when I started." She pouted.

"Brilliant Edward, just brilliant." Bella hissed at me.

**BPOV**

I was mortified and all he could do was gape. I picked up the lettuce I had on the kitchen sink and threw it at his stupid head.

He caught it, he didn't need to read me, he just had excellent reflexes. Bits of lettuce fell from his hand and splattered all over his face and hair. He wasn't happy. But I couldn't help the bark of laughter that flew from between my lips. There was nothing funnier than Edward covered in...well...anything really. He was so pristinely clean at all times, it was just so hilarious when something marred his perfect exterior.

I ran to him and threw myself into his lap. "I'm so sorry baby." I kissed him all along his cheek and down his jaw hoping to get myself out of trouble using exaggerated affection.

He didn't laugh but he didn't yell either. He pushed me off his lap and stood. He put the lettuce on the coffee table then stalked down the hall to the bathroom. Nessa began to giggle.

I shushed her and took the lettuce back to the refrigerator. I heard the shower turn on in our bathroom so I sat with Nessa while she ate her dinner. Her meals were eclectic in taste, still. At six her palate had developed beyond bacon and grapes, thank god, but she still ate some rather interesting combinations. Like tonight, lettuce, cucumber and raspberry jam sandwiches. She would eat as many pieces of fruit as I could shovel into her but not vegetables of any kind. Any and all meats were a favourite too, but I could only feed her so much steak and chops. She still liked to hunt with us and blood continued to be her ultimate favourite food, but she'd come to terms with needing to behave like a human if she wanted to be treated like one. And she did. So she ate human food more often than hunting.

Normally Seth would eat with Nessa but he was eating with the pack tonight. It was a bit of a special occasion at the Rez because another new boy had gotten the fever.

Embry's younger brother Jim had begun his transformation a few days after the war. He'd had to stay at the Rez on the day of course, but with so many vampires in the area for so long nobody was surprised when the younger boys began to show signs of changing. They were all a lot younger than the others had been when their transformations had begun, but once they got the fever there was no stopping it. So they were embraced by the established pack and welcomed into the fold.

Jim was a sweet kid and everyone called him Truman because he was so like Jim Carey's character in The Truman Show. Just like Carey, Embry's brother Jim lived in a world of his own. He was a very quiet boy, the total opposite of his brother in many ways. He was always very eager to please and he – like so many of the younger boys - idolised Seth, especially since Seth had managed to kill himself his very own bad vampire. Seth hated the notoriety that had brought him inside the Rez, but he took it on the chin most of the time. He didn't like it that the younger boys, especially the ones who were yet to go through their transformations and didn't yet understand what it would mean for them, thought of him as a hero because he didn't see himself that way. He'd been terrified at the time and hadn't wanted to hurt anyone let alone have to take on a full grown vampire by himself. To Seth it had been necessary but nothing to celebrate, but to the younger boys the war seemed glamorous and Seth heroic. He'd never admit to anyone other than us that he still had nightmares about Santiago coming through the trees that day. He whimpered in his sleep and more than once I'd held him while he cried. He'd been so sure he couldn't protect Nessa from the massive vampire and in his dreams he often failed.

Jim was only thirteen but he wasn't the only thirteen year old to go through it. David, or Tank as he was known at school, had begun his change the day of the fight. He'd gotten himself so worked up and anxious about what was going on in the clearing he triggered the fever within hours of the fighting beginning. In stark contrast to Truman's passive pleasantry Tank was full of arrogance and over confidence. He was a big kid, which didn't help. He was easily bigger than several of the established pack members and it was as if he truly believed that bigger meant better.

He constantly challenged Sam and Paul's authority and while he was unable to defy the Alpha, he didn't make Sam's life very easy. He questioned every order he was given and tested each command to its fullest before he complied, no matter how insignificant the order had been. Telling Tank to go to school on time would result in half an hour of Sam having to explain why he wanted Tank to go to school at all. Nothing was easy when it came to Tank.

Sam, to his credit, was as patient with the boy as anyone could be. He gave him a little leeway because he understood the emotional rollercoaster the change could inflict on a kid who was already going through a tough time like puberty. But even so, for all Sam's patience, Tank pushed and baited his Alpha at every turn and Sam had inevitably cracked on several occasions.

Edward had spent long hours holed up in Sam's living room, or at the cliffs at First Beach, talking with Sam about how to deal with his frustrations. Tank was determined to push him and Sam needed to learn not to bite. Of course, it was easier said than done, especially with jaws and teeth like Sam had.

So tonight Seth would have his dinner around the open fire at the Rez in celebration of Jim and Truman's completed change. They'd all run through the woods in the middle of the night and the two new boys would phase for the first time with their new pack.

Nessa missed him but he'd be asleep and snoring, as usual, on my futon in the living room when the sun rose the following morning. He'd only slept in his bed in his parents' house once since the fight. That first night when he'd needed to rest to regain his strength after I'd had to drink from him. I shuddered at the thought.

Edward had me around the waist before my body had shaken the last of the thought away. He lowered his lips to my ear, "Are you alright my love?" He whispered just before his lips kissed the shell of my ear.

I wound my arms around him and pulled him closer. "I am." I lost myself in the clean spicy scent at his throat. "How did you know?" I asked hesitantly.

"Nessa was reading you, I was reading Nessa." He whispered. "Good girl, sweetheart, you did really well just then." He nodded to our daughter and then he lifted my chin with his finger. "He's alive because of you, you did nothing wrong." He told me. I nodded but couldn't help but wonder how things might have gone had I not been able to stop, or if Edward had showed up half a minute later than he had. "Go and have a shower love, I'll sort this little mind reader out."

I went off to shower but could hear everything they said, of course. He was so good with her, so even handed where I would normally just yell or get it all wrong, Edward was all kind words and calm explanations.

"Mommy really liked the taste of Seth's blood huh?" Nessa asked him.

I could hear the clank of her dishes hitting the bottom of the sink and then the scrape of her chair as she got up to help her father wash and dry them. They did everything in perfect tandem. They knew each other so well and were so alike. It was like watching twins sometimes, that uncanny way they sometimes moved around each other. I could picture them so well as they stood at the kitchen counter chatting away.

"She did, yes. But it upsets her to think about it Nessa, you mustn't remind her over and over, alright?" He asked.

"Alright, I won't. I promise." She agreed. "But why does it upset her? Seth says he would've been in heaven if it wasn't for mommy drinking from him, so how come that makes her sad. Doesn't she love Seth anymore?"

My heart lurched for her as she tried to understand what was so bad about me drinking from Seth. To her it was a part of who I was, a part of who Edward was and to a lesser extent a part of her too. She saw nothing wrong with what I'd done, especially if it meant Seth had survived it. There were still so many questions to be answered. We'd agreed to let her ask them at her own pace. We didn't want to overwhelm her by telling her everything all at once and risk telling her something she'd never thought to ask about herself. It had been a slow process but her questions were becoming less frequent and less upsetting all the time.

I heard the last of the dishes being put back into their places in the cupboards and while I dried myself I heard Edward pull out the kitchen chairs again.

"You know that mommy loves Seth very much. That is never going to change sweetheart. But, Seth was very, very sick when mommy had to drink from him. The nasty Santiago had some venom in his mouth when Seth stopped him from coming to hurt you and Pop and Nana-Ne. That made him very sick and mommy had to take the venom away for him. Mommy has never tasted human blood before darling, and even though Seth is a wolf his blood is very, very tasty to mommy and to me too. So it was very hard for mommy to stop drinking from Seth once she'd started." He took a pause and I imagined her little brows creasing together, just like his, as she tried to make sense of what he was telling her.

"Would he taste good to me?" She asked.

"I suppose he would." Edward agreed.

I cringed at the thought and remembered back to when I'd been human and Edward had tasted a single drop of my blood that time in the tub in the forest. If Nessa ever tasted Seth's blood...well, I didn't know what that would do to her, or for her for that matter. She had no real desire for human blood, that had been proved at the hospital, but I wondered if her thirst would ignite fully if she ever had a taste of it.

"I don't think I want to taste it." Nessa said matter of factly. "I like being able to go to school so I'll keep eating human food and just hunting with you and mommy and Uncle Emmett just sometimes."

I exhaled the breath I'd been holding, thanking the gods that she wasn't eager to try what I had.

"That sounds very sensible." I could hear the relief and the slight laughter in Edward's response.

'You stopped mommy from drinking too much from Seth daddy, so why is mommy still upset about it?" She asked reasonably.

It was a good question and I figured I should explain it myself. I wrapped my hair up into a towel and looped another around my body. Ignoring Edward's leer I took a seat beside my daughter and tried to explain it.

"It upsets me because if your daddy hadn't arrived when he did I don't think I could've stopped darling. I didn't want to hurt Seth but I knew that I could, very easily. I don't like to think about Seth being hurt, just like I don't like to think about you being hurt. I don't like knowing that your Pa still had to give him extra blood because I took too much once the venom was gone. Do you remember how he smelled different?" I asked her.

She nodded and a single tear rolled out of her big brown eyes and down her cheek. I thumbed it away. "Daddy said he needed someone else's blood to make him feel better. I remember."

"That's right, he did have to have someone else's blood to make him feel better, and that's because I took too much because it was too yummy. I don't want to ever have to do that again, that's why it makes me a little sad. But, it would make me sadder if we didn't have Seth anymore, so I can't be sorry that I did it. Do you understand?" I asked.

She nodded and flung her arms around my neck. "Thank you for keeping Seth here and not letting him go to heaven." She kissed my cheek as she let me go.

All I could do was stare down at her. It wasn't everyday that your six year old daughter thanked you for saving the life of her beloved. Edward was smiling widely. His gorgeous amber eyes found mine and I returned his smile.

"Now, how about a bath for you before Seth arrives and makes you all stinky like a wolf again?" I laughed.

"In the big tub, I want bubbles!" Nessa yelled as she jumped from the kitchen chair and ran down the hall to our bathroom.

Edward pulled my hand into his lap and held it tightly. "Thank you for keeping Seth here and not letting him go to heaven, Isabella." He put a hand to my cheek and leaned in to kiss me.

I smiled against his lips. "You're welcome Edward." I hoped that would be an end to it now. I'd explained it to Nessa and Seth and I had put it behind me as best I could. I'd never forget what I'd had to do, and how it felt to do it, but I hoped now that everyone was aware of the way it made me feel we'd not need to dissect it again. Before I went in to supervise the swimming in the bathtub that Nessa would insist was helping get her clean I squinted my eyes at my husband. "You need to speak to her about reading from us without permission, it's going to get us in trouble one of these days."

He laughed. "I know. I'll do it in the morning." He settled a devilish smirk on his face as I stood up. He pulled me so that I was between his knees, his face at my belly. "But she's right, I was ogling your backside in those skinny jeans so we can at least be happy she's reading us right." He laughed and the shock waves of pleasure that rumbled through me as his hot breath permeated my thin jersey made me wish that Nessa was already in her bed for the night and unable to read anything from either of us.

**EPOV**

It took me two hours the next morning to convince Nessa that reading from people whenever she wanted was a bad idea and not something she wanted to be known for.

She was too young, of course, to understand that the things people thought about in their minds were private and that they rarely actually expressed what they were thinking. To her other people's thoughts were an extension of the conversations she had with them, that the thoughts were just enhancements that they'd not thought to share with her. She thought prompting them about them was helping them.

I tried very hard not to sound as though I were berating her; I didn't want her to see her gift as a curse. It was a gift. I'd used it, and needed it, at certain times and it had proved extremely crucial more than once when it came to protecting both her and her mother. I tried to explain that to her, that when she used it at the right times it could be very beneficial for her and for whoever she was reading from, but she needed to ask before she did. At least until she was older and understood people, and her world, a little more.

It was true that I never had. I'd never once asked anyone if I could read from them. I'd done it my whole adult life without permission. But I liked to think that had I had the ability – as it was now – when I'd been a human child I'd have been instructed to ask before reading someone too. I couldn't imagine either of my parents ever having the discussion with me, but I still knew it was the right thing for Nessa.

I encouraged her to talk to Seth about it as soon as she could. I told her she should give Seth the choice. If he didn't want her reading his thoughts she shouldn't ever do it without his knowledge. I hadn't talked to him about it myself so also tried to be impartial. Who knew, maybe Seth would be okay with her reading his thoughts?

I tried to explain to her what trust was and how it worked both ways. That if she trusted Seth, which I was sure she did, that he needed to be able to trust her too. That part she understood quite easily. I had to use a few analogies that were suitable for her age, but she came to see what I was saying.

I told her she should practise trying to read others but that once she could she should stop until she'd gotten their permission. Of course the only humans she should ask permission from were the wolves or her grandparents. I didn't think asking her school friends would end in any good way. She hadn't understood what I meant about that until I told her she may not be allowed to go to a normal school if anyone found out she could read minds. She was quick to say she'd not read from anyone at school, ever.

As our conversation went on it felt more and more like I had nothing positive to say about her abilities. I was mindful of the difference between discouraging her and asking her to be careful, but it all came out sounding like a lecture rather than advice.

'_A code Edward. Make up a code for just you and her, make it your own special game.' _I heard Alice advise me just as I was searching for just such a solution.

"Aunty Alice has just given daddy a great idea." I told my wide eyed daughter. "How about you and I have a code of our own? Only you and I will know it, oh and Aunty Alice but she's not going to tell anyone, will you Aunty Alice?" I called.

"Nope, I promise Ness." She called down the stairs. She was the only one in the house besides Nessa and I so we were safe to set out the rules of our code on our own.

"What sort of code, daddy?" Nessa asked. She was excited, just as Alice had predicted she would be.

"Well, how about when you want to read from me you tap your temple and when I want to read from you I'll tap mine?" I asked to see if she understood what a code was.

She tilted her head to the side a little then smiled. She tapped her temple once with her finger and smiled again.

'You're a cheeky monkey.' I thought, knowing she was reading me at the time.

She giggled. I tapped my temple and she quieted.

'_Cheeky monkeys like bananas.' _She giggled again when I'd finished reading it from her. She still felt a tingle whenever I read from her so she knew when I had withdrawn from her mind.

I smirked smugly. She was unbelievably smart and far, far too good for me, just like her mother. "Perfect." I whispered to her conspiratorially. "Just our secret Ness, just for you and me. Alright?" I bent down to her level to increase the fun of a secret for her. "So, how about a banana then?"

She fell about giggling. "Mommy will think we are crazy." She laughed.

"She already does." Alice called from upstairs, making Nessa start giggling again.

"Come on, let's play before mommy and Aunty Rosie bring the scream machine home again." I scooped Nessa up and took her to my piano.

She was still laughing about me calling Angel a scream machine half an hour later when Rose and Bella arrived, bringing a wailing Angel into the house with them.

I tapped my temple, Nessa smiled.

'I told you she was a screaming machine.' I smiled.

Nessa tapped her temple. _'Uncle Jasper calls her a shit machine.' _She giggled but all I could do was gape.

**BPOV**

I could tell they were conspiring by the way they were staring at each other as they sat on the piano bench. There was no hope of being let in on the secret, I knew that before I asked. Edward had that steely resolved look on his face and I knew that if whatever they were sharing was making Nessa laugh as hard as she was, they weren't likely to give it up easily.

"What are you two up to?" I asked as we brought Angel and all her bits and pieces into the house.

She was wailing, like she always was, so Rosie took her straight into the kitchen to warm up a pouch of blood. I didn't remember Nessa ever crying like Angel could. It was still early days though, she was two months old in human terms which put her at six months old in reality. Plus she'd been orphaned at birth so that had to be a huge adjustment for her. Being so aware and so intelligent right away like Nessa had been she understood what it meant that her parents were both dead, that had to be hard, even at her age. So I didn't mind that she whined and fretted a lot. Edward did though.

"Nothing, we're just practising. How was your visit?" He asked. But I saw the look that passed between father and daughter, they were sharing a private joke of some sort, I knew it.

I'd spent the morning with Rosie and Angel, Emily and Judd and Rachel Black and her little girl Kelly. I had wanted to take Nessa too but she had begged me to let her stay with Edward. They didn't spend as much time playing as she liked. Edward had the school so close to being opened and he was needed there more and more. So in the end I'd relented and let her stay with him this time. He wanted time to talk to her about reading from people without permission and it had seemed the perfect opportunity, even though I'd really wanted her with me this morning.

"It was great. Judd is so big now. Kelly keeps wanting to carry him around but he's too heavy, it's really cute." I told him as I crossed the room to where they sat. I dropped a kiss first on Nessa's curls then on Edward's copper mop. "How was your playing time?" I asked.

Nessa leaned backward and shot me a smile. "We didn't play much; I got in trouble from daddy first." She said with a little bit of a cringe.

"Eek. I see. But are you friends again now?" I asked playfully.

Nessa giggled. "Yep. Can I go and see Angel now daddy?" She asked.

"Sure you can." He told her. She jumped from the piano bench and went into the kitchen where Rosie was feeding Angel her bottle. "Come here beautiful." He held a hand out for me and I lowered myself eagerly into his lap.

Kissing him deeply I pressed myself up against his chest. "I missed you." I whispered. "How did you go?" I asked, knowing that the 'trouble' Nessa described was more than likely a lecture about reading from people without permission.

He kissed his way down my neck to the curve of my shoulder and I shuddered in pleasure as he nipped at my flesh. "Mmm. I missed you too." He kissed me twice more then brought his eyes up to meet mine. "It went okay. I think she understands it better now." He nuzzled my neck again and I shivered. "She's very smart, just like her mother."

I giggled. "She's also a charmer, just like her father. What are you two up to by the way?"

He looked almost shocked at my accusation. "Me? I'm not up to anything. I'm hurt that you think I would be Isabella." He was trying to keep a straight face but the laughter in his eyes gave him away.

"Hmm. You look innocent but I know you aren't." I laughed. "Are you going in to the office this afternoon?" I asked changing the subject before he could con me any further.

His face clouded over a little and I wondered what the problem was with the school. I didn't have to wait long to find out. "I am. I have to go and have another argument with Gavin Mercer about changing the name of my school Mrs Cullen." He growled softly.

I cringed. I always knew there was a good chance he'd be pissed about me naming his school without his knowledge. Especially since I'd named it EC College. He'd not asked before the war, even when we'd talked to my father about his over-seeing it should we perish Edward hadn't asked what it was going to be called. It hadn't mattered at the time. I was still hoping it was too late to change it even now. Everyone else loved the name, just not Edward. He thought it gauche and arrogant to call the school after himself. Everyone else thought it was inspired and just right.

He'd been trying to have the name changed ever since he saw the registration papers in his inbox.

"Good luck with that." I giggled knowing that once the school was registered it would take a minor miracle to undo it.

"I'd like to believe you really do wish me luck, but I know better." He peered at me through mock angry eyes.

I swatted at his arm playfully and kissed him loudly on his gorgeous full lips. "You'd better get going before Miz Collins starts calling here looking for you." I rolled my eyes to let him know how much I hated it when she called around searching for him.

He stood, taking me with him. He held me firmly to his chest and chuckled. "Jealousy looks so fucking good on you Bella. Hold onto it until I get back tonight." He kissed me firmly and then ran to the kitchen to kiss Nessa goodbye before I could yell after him that I wasn't jealous.

I was and he knew it. God I hated Linda Collins.

**Romania**

After two months of energetic research inside the castle walls Daria began to wonder if her father had ever truly been human.

The vampires she'd seen in the clearing that day had seemed civilised, respectful and almost elegant. Her father had been a savage compared to them. For all his luxury and refinement inside his castle when stood beside the one she knew to be called Carlisle he seemed rough and inarticulate.

Those vampires had seemed far more human than vampire, whereas her father had no trace of humanity in him at all, or none that she could discern.

His presence remained everywhere in the castle and the servants and humans within the walls all spoke of him with reverence, but Daria began to form the opinion that they were frightened of him, not awed.

She listened to the gossip amongst the humans for the first time in her life and began to build a true profile of her father. He was thought of as having been strict and fair, but only up to a point. He was known to be ruthless when it came to running the castle and its farms, lethal when dealing with legal matters and kind hearted when it came to the troubles of his farm workers. The more she learned about him the more she was convinced that his kindness was borne of greed, not any real compunction to help a fellow human. His workers were just that, workers. If they were having some difficulty that encroached on their ability to work for him he did all he could to make that problem go away, but if the difficulty was personal and would have no impact on their work performance, he paid no mind.

Some preferred to remember his kindness, others his ability to lead. Daria knew best the depths of his darkness though. She'd seen him choose his victims so randomly, never caring that the two brothers he chose to have as his meal were the only children left of a mother who'd lost two infants to cot death. He never balked at taking the life of a man whose wife was counting on him to support her and her extended family through a harsh winter after their crop had failed. He gave no second thought to the prisoners he plucked from the farms to sate his hunger. Many of them were capable of reforming but it made no matter to Stefan.

The servants were happier with Raul at the helm and trusted him with their employment as well as the responsibility of running the farms. He seemed fairer and more willing to listen than their father had and the workers were drawn to his slightly less strident personality. She'd not seen him hunt from within the farms and wondered how he was satiating himself. She knew that he was because he wouldn't be able to fight his bloodlust when he procured a meal for their aunt if he wasn't, but she didn't know where he was drawing his victims from.

He never questioned her about her own choice of meal and she didn't expect him to start. But she was careful to hide the fact that she'd not taken a human life since their return from America. She stole from the kitchens and ate in her rooms in hiding. It should have raised more suspicion that she stole food from her own kitchens than the fact that it was the first time she'd eaten human food, but there was nobody to notice. The food was awful and tasted foul to her, but she was determined to become what she'd seen, a human who just happened to have a little vampire inside her, not the other way around.

She'd eavesdropped enough on her father and uncle to know that the much hated Cullen coven were vegetarians among vampires. At the time she'd heard that she'd laughed but now it made sense to her. They weren't the monsters her family made them out to be, they were just different and if there was one thing her father had always been frightened of it was someone being different.

Regular visits from Eleazar confirmed that. He'd lived with them in the castle once, but not for two centuries now and not since Daria herself had been born. Every few months he would arrive with new information about a new vampire or coven member and the three of them would spend hours locked away discussing what that would mean for them. It had always seemed ridiculous to her that they'd care what anyone else was doing or how they lived. They never left the castle themselves, they never ventured further than the courtyard in search of a meal and they never did anything with the information Eleazar brought to them. Until he'd brought the information about the little girl and her bond with the wolf.

The decision to finally leave the castle and travel to America had turned out to be a very, very bad idea. The gossip was rampant about the demise of the two brothers and their failure to return from 'the American excursion' as it was known amongst the servants. She supposed it was always going to look strange that her father, his brother, their personal guards and the entire guard of the castle had gone on a little trip and the only ones who had come home were the children and one grieving widow. Raul had never offered anyone any explanation and Daria herself wasn't in any position to do so either.

The servants and workers would speculate until a plausible reason was found and then that would pass into the annals of history as lore. It was best that way. She'd have to tell no lies. It would give no one any reason to mistrust her and right now what she needed was someone she could trust. Ana was all but a recluse, only feeding once in the three weeks prior and Raul had not spoken to Daria other than to enlist her help to feed their aunt. She was alone but not without resources.

It took four days from the time she'd decided to go, but on the fourth night Daria summoned the courage to go outside the castle walls. Inside them she had no access to any information and was hampered by Raul's constant presence. He'd never told her she shouldn't feel free to move about the local area if she chose, but she knew without being told that if she left and didn't return that act would be seen as a betrayal and would not end well for her. She was strong, much stronger than any human, but not stronger than Raul. So her first excursion into the human world was done with Raul's knowledge and blessing. She stepped into their fathers study and told him firmly that she was going into the town to look around.

He looked startled and not a little surprised but said nothing other than to wish her well and to ask if she needed an escort. She told him she did not and ran down the stone steps into the courtyard as fast as she could, lest he change his mind about letting her go.

The first breath of air she took outside the iron gates felt like perfumed silk as it made its way into her lungs and back out. It smelled like freedom and knowledge.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading. I do hope you have enjoyed this chapter, I am finding it a lot of fun to write Daria and Raul and also the changing Nessa. If you liked it please review, if you didn't please write and let me know why so I can fix it. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3 – Year One – Return to Centre

**BPOV**

With Nessa at school and Edward at the office almost all of every weekday that left me at a loose end. Housework not only didn't interest me, but I could do it all in record time anyway. So I settled into a routine of mornings with Rosie and Angel and any of the other women we knew who came to visit the big house to spend time with us and the new baby. Some days it was Emily and others it was Sue or my mother. My afternoons were spent in the darkroom or in the study at the cottage putting together lesson plans and working out what I was going to teach during the first semester of the school being open.

Alice was much further along in her planning of her design and textiles course than I was with my photography lessons. Jasper was finished his planning and had gone back to writing his history book with Peter. Emmett was too busy with the construction of his new house to have even started his preparations for classes, but if I knew Emmett he'd pull something out of his ass and it would look like he'd spent months on it. It didn't come quite so easily for me. I agonised over what to teach and then once I'd decided that I agonised over the way to teach it. In the end I took Alice' advice and outlined the first months lessons and left it at that. I'd know after the first month if my methods were working and she'd assured me that I'd know by then if my plan was a good enough one to duplicate for the following months.

Esme was helping Rose as much as she could to get used to being a mom. She was as devoted a mother as I'd ever seen, but she had a quick temper and sometimes had a hard time dealing with Angel's swiftly changing moods. Our two little girls might share the commonality of both being hybrids, but there their similarities ended. Nessa was quiet and placid and more interested in learning than playing, Angel was loud and demanding and even at this early stage I could tell that she was going to demand a lot more from both Emmett and Rosalie than Nessa ever had of Edward and I.

Rosie was doing all the right things, she was there every second of everyday for Angel and Emmett was too, when he wasn't on the building site. Rosie played with her, talked to her endlessly, coddled her when she was upset and encouraged her with new things, but it was as if Angel was hell bent on being difficult sometimes.

Edward had checked many a time to make sure there wasn't something wrong for Angel but he said she seemed just like Nessa had at the same age. Eager to learn and loved both Emmett and Rosie just as she should.

The only answer to the differences between Angel and Nessa had to be genetic. Raised in an identical environment the only thing that could make the two girls so different was their DNA. Rosie never complained though, if anything she was happiest when Angel was cranky and only settled when Rosie went to her. I guess for Rose it was a validation of sorts. If Angel was only truly content when in her mother's arms, Rosie must have figured that's where the little girl belonged. So that's where she spent a good portion of her life, in Rosie's arms.

By the time July arrived Angel was three months old but in reality she was about nine. She was crawling all over the place and raising hell in the big house. With three flights of stairs running down the centre of it it was a logistical nightmare for Rosie to keep the little girl from tumbling down one, or all of them.

She and Emmett fought endlessly about how much longer their house was going to take. He'd promised her it would be finished before the new school year started and he only had eight weeks until that was a reality.

I had all my lesson plans done by that point and Edward was beginning to get a little nervous about the grand opening of his school. He'd been contacted over and over by media outlets all over the world eager for information about him and the school. He'd declined every invitation to speak and every request for a visit, no matter how prestigious the interviewer, or how revered the media outlet. He had said right from the start that he had no intention of becoming a media whore. His school was for ordinary kids who had extraordinary talents and they came from all walks of life. If he let the media have their way the school would come across as just another rich kid breeding ground for the tycoons of the future, and it was so far from that it wasn't even funny.

As it stood he'd accepted the admissions of one hundred and twenty children and they really did come from all walks of life.

Each child would continue with their general studies, English Math and the Sciences, but would also attend specialist classes depending on their enrolment.

The way the school was structured a child who showed promise in one of the subjects we offered could apply to his school regardless of their economic or social background. There were no questions about their families, their income or their ability to pay fees on any of the application forms. Each student that had been accepted had been chosen purely on their abilities. They paid a fee to attend, of course, but it was a universal fee. There was no sliding scale. If you attended you paid what everyone else paid. Nobody paid more than another. A child who had rich parents had as much of a chance to attend as a child whose parents would have to borrow money to pay the fee. The difference between the two being that Edward did his homework on the children who applied. The parents of children who showed a lot of promise, but who couldn't afford the tuition, often found just the right amount of money sitting in their bank accounts on the day their child was accepted to EC College.

Edward thought I didn't know about that. But I could decipher a bank statement just as easily as he could. It didn't take too much digging to find out who the payments were being made to. I only had to look at the latest admissions reports and match the names of the attending children with the names on the transfer papers for the money.

The fee for one year's tuition to his school cost less than sending a child to a public school. It was so low because Edward was so smart. Uniforms were provided and would be recycled when a student left or graduated, thereby keeping the cost minimal for the school itself. Parents didn't need to buy books, laptops or materials because they were all provided by the school. He bought in bulk and bought smart. He drew his investors from companies who would benefit from his buying power, that way everyone benefited. The children's parents were happy because their fees were lower, the school ran smoothly because the investors were happy and the investors were happy because the school bought products exclusively from them.

The teaching staff was paid well and would be rewarded with tenure only if they made the grade themselves. Edward had vetted each and every one of them and had approved or declined their applications himself. He wasn't interested in where they'd taught before and for how long. He didn't care if they were short, tall, married gay nor if they had two heads. What he was interested in was their passion for their chosen subject. He picked science teachers who'd been published for research outside of the school arena. Ones who had spent their own personal time trying to find cures and answers and went against popular thinking in order to prove their theories. It didn't matter to him if they did prove them, just that they'd needed to try.

He chose English teachers who had a passion for the classics and who still believed in fundamentals like the three R's. Similarly the maths masters had to be willing to go back to basics and teach the younger children the times tables before moving on to more complex arithmetic.

The music department was a problem, though. Edward would teach for the first few years, but he would only have the time to teach the piano. That meant he had to find several teachers who were proficient on other instruments and several who were familiar with all of them. The soloists were simple; he just chose those that had the most talent and passion for their individual instrument. The masters were more difficult because Edward was a perfectionist and he found it difficult to be objective when choosing someone to teach who he thought of as 'his children'.

He dithered over these hiring's for so long I had to step in and help in the end. Two weeks ago he still hadn't made any decisions and some of the applicants had begun calling Flick to let us know they'd wanted a position with us, but had had to take other jobs because it was getting so close to the beginning of term.

Edward had relented then and the three of us, Flick Edward and I, sat down with all the applications to finally make decisions.

Both Felicity and I could be objective, but Edward could not. He'd been so smart and careful about the other appointments but with his beloved music department he felt that nobody was ever going to be good enough. To get the job done Felicity and I wheeled in a huge whiteboard and began to make a chart listing the pros and cons of each applicant for the various jobs available in the department.

Eventually, after two tantrums three attempts to bribe us and a quick make up make out session while Felicity went to get more coffee, we had a workable list.

Mrs Francis Flowers was offered the job as music department secretary. She'd report directly to Edward as head of the department, but would be responsible for the day to day running of it while Edward concentrated on the running of the school itself. He wrote out a short list of requirements and rules – mainly guarding his need to have ultimate control of the music curriculum – and we were allowed to offer her the position. She accepted on the first call.

Next was a music master. This was tough and not just for Edward. Three candidates had applied and they all had exemplary records. One man had been the music master at a very prestigious school in London for ten years before returning to take a position in New York at another fine school. In the end Edward ruled him out for reasons he wouldn't explain. All he would say was 'over qualified'. I guessed that meant he would probably clash with Edward's vision for the music section. The second candidate was a cellist who, on paper, had all the qualifications required take the job but no experience. Edward said he'd hire her in a heartbeat if he had the time to oversee her work, but he didn't have that time. So by a process of elimination we offered the job to Donovan, a sixty-three year old retired orchestral music mixer. He seemed the most unlikely of the three applicants to me, but as ever, Edward's reasoning brought me round to his way of thinking.

Donovan had no experience running a music department at a school but he did have experience with every single part of an orchestra. So, whilst Edward wasn't planning on building an orchestra per se, Donovan's skills would mean that he'd be able to recognise and instruct musicians on any instrument. Mrs Flowers would keep him on the straight and narrow regarding the running of the department and Edward felt that with his abilities with large orchestras he was perfect for the position. He'd mixed recordings for almost all the well known schools and orchestras in America and some highly specialised private orchestras too. He knew his way around all the recording equipment and would be able to plan and execute any instruction Edward gave him with regard to the playing of individual instruments. With the help of the newly hired stage manager Quinton Evans, they'd soon have the department running smoothly, Edward was convinced of it.

I was convinced that Edward's joke about having hired the 'holy trinity' of music directors wasn't too much of a joke in Edward's eyes.

As for day to day teachers Edward had already hired two young first year teachers from Port Angeles. After that we had a choice between offering a position to a well established violin teacher from Seattle or approving the application of young woman seeking to re-enter the teaching profession after the birth of her first baby. Edward argued for the older woman but Felicity and I both argued for the young mother, Natalie. We outvoted him two to one and I called the younger one straight away. She mentioned she'd have to seek childcare for her baby girl so I offered to call my mother and see if she had a place, she did, and I gave her Natalie's contact information.

The last place we had to fill didn't need any discussion. All three of us immediately decided to offer Rankin – the highly volatile but extremely talented Russian music teacher – the last remaining position in the music department.

"The kids will hate him; he's so strict and rude." Felicity mumbled as she read over his resume for a third time.

"Exactly." Edward said. "They'll be too scared to question him and he'll get the results other teachers can't from the kids who are here only because mommy and daddy want them to be."

"Like you." Flick muttered.

Of course we could hear her quite clearly. I shot Edward a 'look' and he squinted a little as he read from her. His eyebrows shot up as he searched for words. "Mmm, possibly like me, yes. I don't still frighten you, do I Felicity?" He asked.

I gasped. Should he be asking her pointed questions like that? What if she figured out we weren't what we were pretending to be? I didn't know what to do or who to look at first, Edward or Flick.

Edward looked only interested in what her answer was going to be, not worried at all what it would mean if she asked something further of him. Felicity looked as though she was very carefully wording her answer in her head before she said it out loud, never realizing that it wouldn't matter to Edward who'd probably already read it from her.

She shook her head lightly, "No. You don't frighten me anymore boss." She turned to me then, "But you, sometimes you scare the shit out of me. Especially when you hiss and growl at Linda." She laughed lightly but I was stunned.

"I don't like her." I whispered.

"No shit." Flick giggled. "Sorry." She muttered at the end, but I knew she wasn't.

**EPOV**

Bella was terrified I'd just told our secret to the admissions clerk but I had no qualms letting Flick into the fold, just a little. I trusted her implicitly and had done right from the day she'd agreed to work for me.

Her thoughts were nowhere near the truth about us. Like Charlie she knew we were 'other' she just didn't know what that other was. She had registered our paleness and she knew how she felt when we were around. She was being honest in saying that had calmed for her now and that I didn't particularly frighten her anymore.

She'd done everything I'd ever asked her to do, no matter how petty or how outside the realm of her duties it was. She'd never questioned my motives or given me any reason to think she wasn't doing her best for me and for the school. She'd turned her life around since I'd hired her and I wanted to be as honest with her as I could, without going too far, of course. I wouldn't ever reveal what we were, but neither could I hide a lot of what I was. Neither could Bella, not if we were going to be working so closely with the girl, which we were.

She'd known almost from the start that I wasn't 'right'. She didn't equate that with 'wrong', just that I wasn't 'right'. That had shocked me. Most humans felt the two states of mind went hand in hand. I should be either right or wrong to them, Felicity saw me as both and neither. It was refreshing and I'd decided I not only liked her but had misjudged her from our first meeting and vowed to rectify not only my first impression of her, but also hers of me.

She'd seen me as an arrogant rich kid with nothing better to do than throw money around. I'd been rude to her boss at the real estate agency and although she didn't care for the man at all, she still didn't like that I'd been (what she thought) was needlessly rude to him. Of course, I had access to his thoughts, which at the time had been filled with how to screw me out of more money and how to get my wife into the bargain. Flick didn't know that, so to her I was just a smart mouthed little rich boy.

I hoped I'd done enough by now to change her perception of me. She sure had done enough in the months since I'd employed her to prove to me how badly wrong I'd been about her.

"I'll let you in on a little secret Felicity." I took the time to look quickly at Bella and as predicted she looked terrified. "She frequently scares me too." I laughed.

Flick laughed but Bella scowled. "Well, now that I've been identified by you both as the scary wife I'll leave you two to sort out the rest of that stack of papers." She stood out of her seat and I stood with her. "I'll collect Nessa and see you at home Edward." She scowled playfully at me again. "I'll see you tomorrow Felicity."

"See you Mrs C. I'll, um, give you two a minute." She giggled and left my office, shutting the door behind her.

"Jesus Edward, are you sure you want to go down that track with her?" Bella was in my face the second the door to the outer office clicked shut. "You can't tell her what we are, why are you dropping hints we're not normal?"

I laughed, I couldn't help it. Bella had been one of the most accepting humans I'd ever met, she didn't blink once when I told her what I was, but now that she was a vampire herself it was as though it was a terrible, horrible nasty thing. "You, my beautiful, talented but extremely scary wife, are a self hater." I laughed again.

I stalked her as I came around to the other side of my desk where she stood, hands on hips in challenge to me. "What do you mean a self hater?" She huffed.

I kept coming at her, she stood her ground. I put an arm around her waist possessively and pulled her hard up against my chest. "You're frightened for her to know what you are now, yet when I told you what I was you didn't seem to care too much." I put my lips to the hollow at the base of her throat and waited for the shiver I knew would overtake her body as she reacted to my touch.

She shook from head to toe and a little moan escaped her lips as she melted against me. She threaded her fingers into my hair and pulled my lips harder onto her flesh. I obliged and kissed her again. "I'm not frightened for us, I'm frightened for Nessa." She whispered.

I stood up then and faced her. "Explain." I rasped, not understanding what she meant. It came out sounding harsh and was hardly a politely worded question, but I was worried that I'd missed something important.

"Well, it's true that I wasn't too bothered when you told me what you were, but I already loved you then. And I have no problem with some other humans knowing what I am, I know it's not smart to tell them, but a few know and so far no problems. But with Nessa..." She trailed off and creased up her eyebrows as she cringed. "She's going to come to school here eventually and it's going to be hard for her right from the off because she's going to be the bosses daughter. It'll be hard anyway because she's so smart, even at a school for talented kids she'll eclipse them in weeks. That's going to separate her from a lot of them without her doing a thing. But, if people here know what we are and we have to explain what she is, well, it'll sort of be like strike three for her, you know? Even if we just tell Flick that will be one more human that knows what we are, Nessa will never get a chance to feel normal if word gets out what we are. Even if nobody knows, if they find out she's ours she'll be bullied, or worse, simply because of who we are, not even what we are."

I took a step away then. I ran a hand through my hair and cursed. "Fuck. I never thought of it like that. I just want her here so badly, I never stopped to think how it would be for her, only for myself." I admitted.

Bella smiled and I melted inside. Her smile was so lovely, it soothed me instantly even though I hadn't heard her thoughts yet. She always soothed me, or came up with a solution, so I knew this would be no different. "Don't panic Edward, I feel the same. I want her here for myself not because it's what's right for her. It probably isn't. A normal public school would suit her just fine if we truly want her to be as human as she can be, but I want her here anyway. Just like you do, I want her here for me." She stepped back into my arms and kissed my jaw. "Please don't go any further with Flick, she's figured we aren't normal but that's enough for now. If we need to tell her another time, so be it, but for now let it alone, please?" She asked and I nodded. "When Nessa comes here as a student I don't want to enrol her as a Cullen. I don't want anyone to know we're her parents. I want her to have a chance to be herself." She whispered.

Not a Cullen? I was mortified. She was a Cullen, a true Cullen, like us. Hell she'd been born to two Cullen's, not just one. "You can't mean that? You took my name Isabella, she has my name, she'll use it." I hissed.

"Shhh, calm down, I'm not saying we change her name, god Edward, she's a Cullen twice over, she's more Cullen than I am!" She echoed my own thoughts and I softened my stance a little. "She could come here as a Masen though. Nobody needs to know who her parents are, we don't need to bask in her glory, she could come and go as she pleases as a Masen." She countered.

"A Masen?" I tried the name out and found that I liked it. "Renesmee Masen?" I asked and she nodded. "What do we tell people then? How do we explain her?"

"Why do we have to? She would just be any other student enrolling at the school. Oh, we could say she's a niece or even stick to the story that she's my cousins child. Nobody is going to ask so we shouldn't have to tell anyone anyway. Even Flick has no idea we have a child right now." Bella countered.

It made good sense but I was uneasy with the name part. "I've never been more proud of anything the way I'm proud of being her father." I whispered. I ran a hand through my hair again and Bella sighed. "I want the whole world to know that she's mine, that I had a hand in her making. But I guess that's what I want and not what's best for her." I matched Bella's sigh and she came to stand in front of me again.

She put her hands to my cheeks and softly kissed my lips. "You're such a good dad, Edward. She's lucky to have you. I haven't worked everything out yet and I certainly don't know what to do about the fact that she grows so fast, but I figured we'd sort that out together. But I do think enrolling her as Masen is smart, if you'll let me do that?" She asked.

It was smart even though I didn't particularly like it. I'd still get to watch her grow and I'd get to teach her myself, so would Bella and my brothers and sister. "Alright. When it's time she'll come as a Masen. We'll sort the rest out as it comes to hand." I kissed her more firmly.

"Good, now let me go so I can go and collect her." She wriggled free of my embrace and was laughing again as she left the office. "Love you, see you tonight." She called as she left the outer office.

Felicity came back in after Bella left and we went over the final time tabling issues and the last of the admissions paperwork. She never once gave a thought to what I was and the afternoon passed quite nicely. We tied up a lot of loose ends and by the time Linda returned to her office after completing the errands I'd sent her to into Port Angeles for, Felicity was ready to go home for the day.

Linda came in the instant Felicity had closed the outer office door. I cringed that her first thought was how good it was that I was alone, no Bella.

"Oh, Mrs Cullen is gone already?" She asked as innocently as she could. I ignored the question; she wasn't waiting for an answer anyway. "All the banking is done Mr Cullen. Here are the papers for the transfer of funds, if you sign them I'll take them back again in tomorrow's batch." She put the stack of papers into my inbox and stepped back again. "These are your messages and Antony has requested a moment of our time before you leave this evening."

She waited for instructions as I flicked through the pile of messages. Three from Eleazar, again. One from Randall, one from Peter and one from Liam. The fuckers were getting on my nerves. I threw the whole pile of memos into the trash bin at my feet and handed her a note with a number on it.

"I need to speak to Gavin Mercer before the end of the day. Tell Antony I'll see him at five, thanks." I hoped she'd just leave.

I was starting to think that Bella and Esme might be right about Miz Collins but I wasn't yet ready to admit it to them. If she kept making moony eyes at me and kept having little digs at Bella – even though they occurred only in her head - I'd have to let her go.

"I'll make sure Mr Mercer calls you back today Edw, oops, I mean, Mr Cullen."

She backed out of the office with a smile on her face. The slip had not been an accident, she merely wanted to see whether I'd let her call me Edward from now on. I had no intention of doing so. She was jealous of the easy banter Felicity and I shared, and also that Bella had taken far more to the younger girl than she had to Linda herself. She saw both women as rivals, which was utterly ridiculous. It might be time to make sure that Miz Collins knew I only had eyes for my wife.

I was determined to try and undo the name of the school before it opened and it was too late. Everyone around me thought it was a great name, I hated it. Gavin Mercer was my only chance to make it go away. I'd much rather meet with him in person but he was in Seattle and I didn't want to waste a whole day travelling there and back. But, if I got no joy out of him via the telephone I would. I hoped he was someone I could frighten.

My phone beeped and Linda chimed in to tell me there was a call from a Jeff Hartnett from the Pacific Northwest Inlander newspaper wanting an interview.

"Tell him we are delighted with his interest and that he is welcome to contact Antony anytime for more information on the school. I don't give interviews Miz Collins." I said at the end, just for good measure.

The last thing I wanted was my picture in a newspaper and my thoughts quoted in an interview. This school was for the children, not me. I didn't need media attention to make it work and I certainly didn't want it to become a media circus before we'd even started teaching.

When Antony arrived for our 'word' he disagreed. I was late home.

**BPOV**

Edward was so late getting home he missed all the fun of the christening acceptances arriving. The big house was full of excitement when I returned after collecting Nessa from school.

The mailman had brought a sack full of pale pink envelopes and Rosie had waited for our return before opening them.

I sorted out a snack for both Nessa and Seth, who'd arrived when his school day had finished, and once they were done they ran off to swim in the river.

It was so much fun opening the little envelopes and reminded me of the time before our wedding when we'd waited for our acceptances.

This was doubly exciting because now I knew all the people whose names adorned the cards. At our wedding Edward had known the vampires in attendance but many of them I was meeting for the first time. Now I knew them all very well.

So did Nessa. Her squeals of delight as each envelope was opened was infectious and we were all soon hanging off Rosie's every word as she read each little card in turn.

One of the first acceptances came from my parents because they lived so close by, but it was still exciting to put their little card on the acceptance pile. Each pair or single coven member had been sent an invitation of their own so the pile of replies was huge! It also increased the fun as we all took turns opening them, one at a time, and reading the notes written on them.

"Listen to this one. We were delighted to receive an invitation to meet your newest cherub and are pleased to accept, with much love and best wishes, Liam and Siobhan. Oh isn't that sweet?" Esme crowed.

"Not as sweet as this one." I said suggestively. "To the lovely Rosalie and the massive Emmett, It is an honour to be invited to the christening of your little girl and I accept with pleasure. Dieter. Oh er Rosie, I think you have an admirer." I giggled.

She screwed up her nose. "Dieter? Really? And what's with calling Em massive? God, don't let him see that one." She put it on the bottom of the pile of acceptances and reached for another that was yet to be opened.

Alice was waving one, "This one is good. To Rosalie and Emmett, We are both looking forward to meeting your little girl. We accept with pride, Senna and Abel."

We all squealed in delight. "I knew they'd end up together." Esme crowed.

I'd seen them run from the house hand in hand the day after the fight so I'd had my suspicions too. It was good that they'd found each other but I wondered what had become of Zaffy if Senna was now with Abel?

"If Senna is with Abel where is Kachiri and who's with Zaffy?" I asked cheekily.

"Senna went to the Pacific with Abel but Kachiri went home with Zafrina. It was a straight swap. Kachiri took Zuhar with her and Senna went with Abel." She giggled.

"Well, that's interesting, isn't it ladies?" Esme giggled too.

"But what about Zaffy? Did Alistair go with her or are they both still alone?" I asked Alice.

She closed her eyes but shook her head. "They're alone. He didn't go with her to stay, but he has been there." She smiled and waggled her eyebrows.

"Well then, when they get here we'll have to make sure they are unable to live without each other." Esme decided quite firmly. How she thought we'd achieve that I didn't get a chance to ask, but she was very sure we could.

"Find the cards from Zaffy and Alistair first, if they aren't coming we can't set them up." Rosie said quite rightly.

We found their cards in the bunch and marked off quite a few other pairs as we sifted through them. Julian and Mary, Tanya Aro and Irina would arrive together and all the Turkish vampires we knew were coming as a group as well.

The only inabilities to accept we got that day were from the Asians. A very sad letter accompanied their little card.

"Read it out Rosie." Esme prompted.

Alice gasped so she'd seen something and I knew from the look on Rosie's face that the news wasn't good.

"It's written by Su but it's from all the Asian vampires." She told us before she read the actual letter. "To our friends the Cullen's, It is with regret that we decline your kind offer to host us for your Angel's christening rites. With the loss of our friend Sima and the most recent loss of her mate Rau we have decided not to travel at this time."

I gasped and Esme sobbed. Alice was nodding minutely so I knew it was true. "What happened, does it say?" I whispered.

Rosie nodded and kept reading, "We went our separate ways after the fight and Rau returned to Keratong to his and Sima's village. He was very sad and lonely. He wrote to say he had decided to make another, but word has reached us since that his attempt failed, his intended perished and he was unable to live without either Sima or another. He stopped feeding and when the hunger became too much he walked into the centre of his village and put himself onto the cooking fire. He has met his god. He will be missed and much mourned."

"Oh my god." Esme gasped again.

I was about to echo her sentiment when we heard a loud crash from upstairs. Carlisle had thrown something and it had smashed into a thousand pieces. I looked at the women around me and wondered what to do. He wasn't coping, it was easy to see that he just didn't know what to do or what to say to relieve the pain he was feeling. I felt so responsible for it, so very guilty for being the cause of his pain.

Esme got to her feet and was about to head up the stairs to him but I called her back.

"Esme, let me, please? This is my fault, please let me try?" I whispered to her.

She didn't say anything but she did sit back down on the seat she'd occupied on the sofa. I took that to mean it was okay for me to go upstairs.

So I did.

The beautiful crystal globe that stood on his bookshelf was shattered and covered the floor in a carpet of diamond shards. I wanted to clean it up but the state of Carlisle needed to be my first priority.

He sat slumped in his chair, his head in his hands. His hair was a dishevelled mess and I didn't think I'd ever seen it any way other than slicked down and immaculate. He reminded me of the way Edward had looked after I left him. Hollow.

"Carlisle." I whispered.

He didn't lift his head. "Go away Bella." He whispered in reply.

"I don't think so, sorry." I told him as I sat in the chair opposite him. "Please can you talk to me?" I begged.

He stayed silent. I sighed.

I heard the backdoor open then close and then I smelled Edward. I assumed someone downstairs would fill him in, silently, on what I was doing up here and why.

I focused on Carlisle again and began to whisper so I wouldn't startle him. "I don't like seeing you like this Carlisle, dad. Please won't you tell me why you feel the way you do right now?" I asked.

He said nothing.

I smelled Nessa then too and knew that she'd come inside because Edward was home. So now she too could hear what was going on up here. I'd need to be mindful of that when next I spoke.

I figured I had a unique opportunity right in front of me. I could tell him exactly what I was thinking and how I was feeling. He'd have to listen, unless he left, which I thought was unlikely. He was in pain but he wouldn't be so rude. At least I didn't think he would, he'd already asked me to leave once.

I thought about that before I spoke. He didn't want to be near me, it had been obvious right from the minute the war had ended and it was probably the reason he'd not spoken to me as yet, even though it was now over three months since the last of our visitors had gone home.

I thought about what I needed to say to him and decided to start with the apology I should've made to him straight after.

"I'm so sorry Carlisle. I never meant to have to fight the way I did that day and I should've let the others at Jane. Can you ever forgive me?" I asked, hoping he could.

He sighed but said nothing. Nor did he raise his eyes to meet mine across the desk. It was obvious he was disgusted with me. He was such a peaceable man and he'd raised me to be the same and I'd let him down. It was no wonder he couldn't look me in the eye anymore. I understood now. His depression wasn't just about what he'd done, it was about what we'd done too.

I tried again. "I know you can't look at me anymore and don't want to talk to me anymore either and I know why. But you have to know how sorry I am for all of this, it was never my intention to do this to you, you have to believe me. If we'd been more responsible, waited until after we were married at least, none of this would've happened."

I began sobbing then. It was as involuntary to me right now as it was for a human to breathe in and out. I couldn't control my sobs as I thought about how different things would be now if we'd just been smarter about things all those years ago. Nobody would've had to have fought for our daughter because she wouldn't exist. I sobbed harder as the reality of that hit me full on in the chest.

Edward threw the door open then. I hadn't heard him come up the stairs but there he was. He strode to the side of Carlisle's desk, a deep growl emanated from his chest, "This has gone on long enough. Go home Isabella. Take Renesmee." He barked, but not at me, he was still facing Carlisle. I had no idea what the fuck was going on and was about to ask when Edward turned to me and hissed. "Go!" He roared.

I flinched away from him and slid out of the visitors chair as fast as I could. His eyes were black as night and he had already slipped into a crouch before I even pulled the door shut behind me.

"This ends right now Carlisle." He hissed.

Nessa sat on the sofa in the living room, big fat tears sliding down her cheeks. Esme stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder, patting her absently. I didn't bother trying to meet her eyes, my first priority was Nessa. I pulled her to her feet, nodded for Seth to follow and fled with them out the backdoor and ran home to the cottage.

**EPOV**

I waited just long enough so that I could no longer read Nessa's thoughts and then I reached across the side of the desk and pulled my father to his feet using the front of his sweater.

He didn't bother to fight me. He had no idea what my problem was anymore than Bella did, the only difference was he didn't care.

I couldn't sit by and listen while my wife begged for his forgiveness. I'd had to read it from Nessa, who read it from her mother, as Bella sat in the visitors chair opposite my broken sire. I hadn't known Bella blamed herself for what we'd gone through. I hadn't known that she blamed herself for what Carlisle was going through and I hadn't known that she thought his silence and his failure to meet our eyes was because of her actions, not his. I had to end this now before everyone fell into a depression through misinformation.

When he was on his feet I looked him up and down. He looked like shit. His hair was limp and lifeless, he'd not shaved for days and his eyes were dull and half closed as though he was a drug addict coming down from a recent high. The purple bruises under his eyes told me how long it had been since he'd hunted.

"You're a fucking mess man." I chortled darkly. He shrugged. "No matter, I can say what I want to say whether you look like shit or not." I laughed.

Again he shrugged. "Say what you've come to say then get the fuck out and leave me alone." He whispered.

I laughed again. There was a little tiny bit of fight left in him after all. "You want to do this here or you want to run old man?" I teased.

"I don't give a fuck, just say it and get out, Edward." He still couldn't lift his eyes to mine.

It wasn't like him to needlessly cuss. He was trying hard to put forth a thick skinned persona but I knew better. He was bleeding inside. His heart was aching. Had he forgotten that I could read him? Was he finally so far gone that he thought I couldn't read what was going on inside his head?

"As you wish. We'll do this here." I pushed him back into his chair and waited until he'd slumped back against the chairs backrest. I stayed beside the desk, however. "I'd apologise to the lady of the house first, but I'm not sorry for what I'm about to say to you, so you can keep your huffing and puffing about my language to yourself Esme." I added for good measure, knowing she'd be hanging on every word. She was so desperately worried for him she was barely functioning herself. But I needed to say this plainly, without worrying about hurting hers or anyone else's feelings as I did. "So I guess I'll begin, seeing as you don't seem to have it in you to speak anymore. Which is a fucking cop out, by the way." When he still didn't react I decided to just push on. "I'll be blunt. The playing field has changed Carlisle. The goal posts have shifted and it's only you standing on the sidelines not realizing the game is different."

I gave him a moment to think on it but could see from his thoughts he had no idea where I was going with this. "Are you done?" He whispered bitterly.

"Not quite." I shifted around to the front of the desk and took the now vacant visitors chair. I leaned further across the desk and began again. "As I was saying. You've had a hundred years within this family and up until now we've been able to protect ourselves. With us all being vampires you could stand back and let us fight our own battles, safe in the knowledge that we could handle ourselves. But now, things have changed. This family has changed and we've changed within it. The wolves are vulnerable and so are Nessa and Angel. We did what we had to do to keep the vulnerable members of this family safe, end of story. Things have changed Carlisle, you have to change with them or we'll leave you fucking behind."

He didn't lift his face but his thoughts were a little less jumbled and sluggish since I'd finished speaking. He could see the logic in what I'd said but couldn't apply it to what he'd had to do. As with Jacob he'd been unhappy that I'd had to end the boy, and so had I, but he'd been able to go inside and help Bella, effectively removing himself of the responsibility for the violence that erupted.

Again when it came to James, Victoria and Laurent he'd been needed to help Bella and could once again do that instead of participating in the acts of violence that had kept both her and Nessa alive.

This time around he'd not been spared that. He'd had to participate. He'd been coerced by Eleazar – another reason to loathe that fucking traitor - into ending Vladimir and he'd had to see firsthand what it took to keep this family safe. He couldn't hide this time.

"Ok, I'll put this as plainly as I can for you, seeing as you're having trouble with it." I hissed at his reluctance to even try to overcome this black gloom that had settled over him. "Are you sorry you changed Bella?" I asked him.

"Of course not!" He shouted. He lifted his face and his angry eyes bored into mine.

Aha I thought, there is life in there. "Good because she thinks you are." I let that sink in and watched the horror move across his face. He wanted to speak now, but I didn't let him, I was just hitting my stride. "Do you regret changing me?" I asked.

His eyes flashed angry again as he shook his head violently from side to side. "Never." He raged.

This part was going to be hardest. I didn't want to have to tell him this part, but if it shocked him back to life it would be worth it. "Well, between the two of us we made Renesmee and right now I've got a wife and daughter who think that you hate them." He met my eyes this time, only now he was horrified, not angry. I nodded at him so he'd know I was serious. "My wife thinks you regret making her what she is and has spent the last months berating herself for having sex with me before we were married because if we didn't have Renesmee you wouldn't have had to kill Vladimir. It kills her to feel guilty for loving her own daughter Carlisle. It's a hell of a leap, I grant you, but I confess to feeling something similar when the fight was done. But she has convinced herself that the reason you cannot meet her eyes is because you are ashamed of her and that because she ended Jane, instead of letting someone else do it, she's let you down."

He put his head in his hands then. His shoulders began to shake with emotion and I knew he was crying even before his thoughts told me so.

I needed to tell him everything so I pressed on despite how upset he was. "Nessa thinks you won't love her anymore because she's read Bella's thoughts on it and has put two and two together and come up with eight. If you can't look at or speak with Bella because of what she did that day, then Nessa believes you won't be able to look at or talk to her once you find out she is proud of us for having ended the nasty men."

He began a soft whimpering then. It came from deep inside his soul and flooded out of his mouth with each strangled sob he couldn't control. I wanted to go to him, to wrap him in my arms and hold him, but at the same time I wanted to be as firm as I could and make him see how things stood now.

"Now, I can't speak for Emmett and Rosalie but I'm pretty fucking sure they don't regret anything from that day either, and that's got nothing to do with them getting Angel. They did what needed to be done to protect this family Carlisle. Just like they did when we were under threat from James and Victoria et al. Same as Jaz and Alice. We did what was necessary. We didn't like it then and we don't like it now but it's better than the fucking alternative. Can you see what I'm trying to say at least?" I shouted, getting frustrated with his lack of response.

He nodded weakly but didn't lift his head out of his hands. He continued to cry, more softly now.

I had to be as honest with him as I could, he deserved that. "I don't say these things to hurt you Carlisle, I meant what I said in the days before the fight. I am sorry I had to go against what you'd always taught me in order to keep my family safe. I still am sorry it had to be the way it was, but that wasn't our decision to make. Surely you must see that now, having listened to Stefan and Vladimir that day? They had no desire to settle our differences with words. They came ready to fight and it was their only thought from the instant they saw our numbers in the clearing. We did what we had to do because if we hadn't you wouldn't have those two little girls Carlisle. You wouldn't have anyone, or anything at all."

Esme was beside herself, she sobbed quietly into a cushion off the sofa. Alice was lying on her bed wrapped in Jasper's arms, she too was sobbing quietly.

I stood. I'd said what I'd wanted to say, the rest was up to him. He'd either accept what I'd told him and move on, or he wouldn't. Either way I had done my best to make him see that this family had been worth fighting for.

"I'm going home now, to tell my girls that you don't hate them. No matter what you decide to do in the future I hope you'll at least make sure they know you love them. I love you Carlisle, I always have and I always will, but I can't regret what I had to do for them because I love them too and I deserve the happiness they've brought to my life. They were worth the fight and so were you. I'll let myself out." I closed the door quietly behind me.

I wanted to go to Alice and reassure her that his thoughts had changed significantly in the half hour it had taken me to have my say and that I held a bigger hope that he'd sort himself out now, but I couldn't. He'd hear me and she was okay where she was with Jaz.

Rosie was a lot harder than Alice and she knew I'd had to say those things to shock Carlisle into wanting to live again. I knew she didn't need me. She would take Angel down to the building site to be with Emmett for a little while and they'd be okay there together.

I needed to be at home, with my family, and try to unravel the mess there.

I did stop by Esme on the sofa. I took her into my arms and held her tightly. I kissed her temple and mouthed I love you as I put my hand to my heart when I slipped out the back door.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. This was a tough one. I am glad it's over, to be honest. It needed to be done but I don't like it when Edward and Carlisle clash. If you have anything to add please review, they are always welcome and always answered. **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4 – Year One – In Which the Torch is Passed

**BPOV**

Nessa had cried the whole way home, and the entire time we were there while we waited for Edward. He was up there for a little while, nowhere near as long as I thought he would be though. I expected him to be hours, that he and Carlisle would nut out the problem and come to some agreement. Or at least one of them would break and Carlisle would go back to his normal self.

I knew there would be shouting because Edward had come in shouting and I also knew that Carlisle would bite back, just as he had before and after I'd been changed when he and Edward had come to blows over something.

They'd never hurt each other physically so far but there had been many threats made over the course of their hundred or so years together. Emmett had told me about a few times he'd had to separate them and a few times Jaz had needed to step in and calm the situation too. I hoped it wouldn't come to that this time.

I sat with Nessa while she cried and tried to work out what she'd heard or read that had upset her so much. Poor Seth felt so useless. She told me that she'd read how sad I was and how sad Pa was and that she was worried and upset because her daddy had shouted so loudly and had been so cross.

I tried to tell her not to worry, that daddy and I would help Pa not to be sad anymore but she pushed me away and told me that I didn't know what her Pa had been sad about because I wasn't like her and her daddy. That had hurt, but I understood that she was upset and hurting too, so I let it slide. She said she only wanted to talk to Edward about what she'd read from me, so I left her in her room with Seth after that.

I did my best to be patient for him to come home and busied myself with Nessa's dinner and a snack for Seth – he'd eaten at his house already. I assumed it would be hours until Edward came back but he was back within the hour and I was shocked at his appearance and demeanour.

He looked drawn and paler than normal, as though he'd had some sort of shock. I ran to him right away and begged him to tell me what had happened.

He kissed me firmly and told me that he would tell me every word of the conversation but that he needed to go to Nessa first. I understood that too, so I let him go to her. Seth came out to join me in the kitchen while Edward spoke with our daughter.

Of course we could hear every word but we tried to just behave normally while they talked.

"You alright Bell's?" Seth asked me as I slid his plate under his nose.

"I will be, thanks. You?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's no good that Carlisle is so down. You think he'll be alright?" He asked quietly.

All I could do was shrug. I honestly didn't know if Carlisle was going to be alright. If Edward couldn't help him, and Esme couldn't comfort him, I had to wonder if he would ever be the same again. It only made me feel more guilty. I'd be responsible not only for Angel being an orphan but also for this family losing its much loved leader. Nessa would never forgive me if Carlisle didn't come round.

I jumped when Edward yelled. "Isabella, stop." He roared down the hallway.

Seth jumped in his seat too. Nessa cried. She must have been reading from me, Edward from her. I wanted to shout back and tell them to stay out of my head but knew it was a waste of time and energy. She couldn't help it because she was so little and just learning about her gift, and he couldn't help it because if she wasn't shielding he'd hear everything she thought, including everything she read from me.

I left Edward to comfort her a little longer but after about twenty minutes I couldn't stand it anymore. I went and stood in the doorway to her room and waited until they turned their attention to me.

"Can we talk about this as a family please?" I asked. "This affects us all."

Edward looked at Nessa and then back to me. "Of course. Come on sweetheart, come into the living room." He pulled her to her feet and put an arm over her shoulder. He mouthed 'I love you' to me as they moved past me and went out into the living room.

"Should I go?" Seth stood beside the kitchen table with an unsure look on his face. I shook my head.

"No, stay, please. You're a part of this family Seth. You should be here. We need to talk about this together." I told him and reached for his hand.

He put his in mine and we both moved to the sofa.

Nessa sat in Edward's lap in the armchair and I watched with interest as he tapped his temple, then she tapped hers. They both smiled and then turned to us.

"I'm sorry I was listening to your brain without asking permission first, mommy." Nessa hung her head.

"Thank you darling." I told her. "I guess you read some things from me that upset you, right?" I asked tentatively.

She turned her face to Edward's again before turning back to face me. She nodded. "Are you cross with me for being borned?" She mispronounced it and I shuddered in pain.

"No, never." I shouted far too loudly. I flew off the sofa and came to a stop at Edward's knees. I pulled Nessa to me and hugged her tightly. "I promise you I would never think that way. No matter what you read from me I could never be sorry you are here. I love you more than anything and anyone." I held her tightly while she cried.

"But you said that if you were smarter you wouldn't have had to hurt that Jane lady. You said..." She trailed off.

Seth sighed, realizing that I'd said no such thing and figuring that I may have thought it instead.

"Mommy didn't say those things Nessa, she thought them. Remember I told you the difference before?" Edward turned her to face him and put her back in his lap. "Thoughts aren't the same as words Nessa. People think things they don't mean and they think things they don't want others to know. Mommy was thinking things she didn't want you or me to know, or even Pa, that's why she thought them and didn't say them out loud."

It was such a good explanation I wanted to hug him. "That's right darling. I was thinking some things that I didn't want you to know about because they would've hurt your feelings, and daddy's and Pa's. And they have, because you've read them from me. You need to ask in future Nessa."

She nodded and I thought that she might finally have really understood us. She turned wet eyes to Seth who sat on the sofa. "I can be a good girl Sethy, I promise. I don't want everyone to be cross with me." She sobbed.

"Nobody is cross with you Ness, 'specially not me." Seth told her. "But you gotta ask. Just like with you and me. You ask me all the time if you can read from me, and mostly I say yes, but if I was thinking something that might hurt you or someone else I'll say no. That doesn't mean I'm cross with you, it just means my thoughts are private right then." He told her.

"You boys are so good at this." I smiled first at Seth then at Edward. "Now, I don't want any more talk of anyone being sad because Nessa is with us. We fought all those nasty people because we love you so very much little girl. Would we have done that if we didn't love you?" I asked her sternly.

She thought it over and then shook her head. "Nope, you wouldn't." She agreed.

"That's right, we wouldn't. So that means we love you lots, doesn't it?" She nodded so I kept going. "Now, your Pa is a bit sad at the moment but that is nothing to do you, alright? You haven't done anything wrong at all. Okay?" I asked her.

She looked at Edward who nodded, then to Seth who nodded then back to me. "Alright." She nodded too. "Is he sad because of you, mommy?" She asked.

"I don't know darling. Maybe." I shrugged.

Edward growled softly. "He isn't. Not at all, you have to stop thinking that Isabella." He muttered darkly. He always used my full name when he was serious. "I'll talk to you in private about my conversation with him, but he isn't upset or sad because of anything you've ever done or said. I swear it. He's upset because he doesn't like violence." He turned Nessa again then and she looked up at him with wide eyes. "Your Pa is very upset because he had to kill Vladimir. He doesn't like it that we had to hurt anyone to protect you. He's not sorry we did, he just didn't want to have to. That's all."

"Okay daddy." Nessa said matter of factly. It seemed that was an end to it for her. If she wasn't the cause of my distress or Carlisle's she'd leave it to us to sort out, by the look of things. I was relieved and I thought the two boys were too.

"Come on little miss smarty pants, come and beat me at scrabble again." Seth scooped her up out of Edward's lap. He winked at me as he took her down the hall. "You guys run or hunt or whatever, I'll be here." He said as he turned into her room.

Edward was on his feet then; he reached for my hand and pulled me up. "I'm not thirsty, are you?" He asked. I shook my head. "Then we'll run. Come on, I'll tell you everything."

So we ran to the meadow that night and while we lay in the long grass Edward told me about his conversation with Carlisle, word for word. He assured me that there was fight in our sire yet and that by the time he'd left the big house to come home to the cottage he'd already noticed a distinct change in Carlisle's thoughts. A change for the better, he hoped.

He was very stern with me and made me promise not to think about being the cause of any of this anymore. He made me promise not to feel guilty for having Nessa ever again and that Carlisle's angst really was nothing to do with me. He told me that Carlisle hadn't said a word to anyone else either, that he wasn't singling me out for the silent treatment and I felt better knowing that.

He said we should probably steer clear of the big house for a few days and let him think on everything at his own pace. I agreed. I doubted I could face him now anyway. Edward was sure he'd come to us when he was ready. I hoped he was right.

**EPOV**

I didn't hear a word from Carlisle for three days after I'd said my peace in his study. The longer it went without contact with him the more sure I was that he'd forsaken me.

I knew he would probably never forgive himself for killing Vladimir but I had hoped he'd forgive me for ending Stefan. The two were different things, at least from what I'd read in his thoughts they were anyway. He honestly believed he'd had a choice and that he'd only done it at Eleazar's urging. But I knew better. I'd read his surge of power and his relief when he'd done it. I just had to hope that he'd remember that for himself and see that it wasn't so different from what I'd done. He had to come to the realisation that we'd done the right thing in his own time, in his own mind.

I went about my business in my normal way while I waited to see what he would do next. I participated in life in the cottage as I always did. I did as much with Nessa as I possibly could when I was there with her, and I actively participated in her schooling both at home and in Port Angeles where she was currently enrolled. I worked with her at night on her mental exercises and I played with her endlessly on the weekend. I loved her and my wife and Seth with everything I had and I tried to be the best husband, father and mentor I could possibly be for my family.

My brothers and sisters came for their normal visit of a morning before work and they behaved no differently than they had any other day. I tried to block their thoughts and concentrate on their interactions with my child, rather than delving in their minds for clues as to the status of Carlisle's mindset.

It was hard to be patient.

I worked hard to make sure the school was ready to accept its first students on September first and it was in my office at the school that Carlisle found me on the morning of the fourth day.

I knew he was there long before Linda buzzed me to tell me. I read it from her and then from him as he stood in the outer office. He'd never come here before other than during a tour when the rest of the family had come along. When Linda buzzed I asked her to show him in.

He looked a little better, at least. "Would you like something to drink Dr Cullen?" Linda asked as she ushered him into my office.

"No, thank you." He replied kindly.

"Is there anything else Mr Cullen?" She asked me.

"Take your lunch Linda; lock the outer door on your way out please." I told her as she left.

When we both heard the click of the lock Carlisle strode forward towards my desk. I waved a hand for him to sit in a chair opposite and he chuckled lightly at the shift in our situations. It was normally me sitting opposite him in his office. This was new for us.

He was quiet for a few moments but I didn't feel the need to fill it with inanities. He'd say what he'd come to say in his own time. Time I had plenty of.

"You've done a remarkable job here Edward." He began.

"Thank you." I said sincerely. It had always meant a lot to me that Carlisle was proud of my achievements. It seemed like it had been a long time since I'd done anything for him to be proud of.

He was quiet again then while he ran through what he wanted to say. Eventually he took a deep breath and began. "First, don't ever come into my study and man handle me again." His eyes flashed me a warning and I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face.

"Fine." I said dryly.

"Second, I am your fucking sire, don't ever tell me that my choice not to speak is a cop out. I don't give a fuck who you think you've become, but I made you, I can fucking break you just as easily and don't you fucking forget it, boy." The gold in his eyes was completely eclipsed by black now.

From his thoughts I could tell he was just warming up. "Again, fine." I replied. I was still grinning, which only added to his determination to let me have it both barrels, which was fine with me. His ire was infinitely better than the empty shell he'd been a few days ago. I could absorb a bit of parental browbeating if it got me my father back, which I hoped that was where this was leading. As yet I couldn't tell from his thoughts. For all I knew he was here to kick me out of the family.

He snorted at me, thinking how arrogant I'd become and how much he'd like to wipe the smirk off my face. "Your arrogance is not at all attractive." He shook his head but ploughed on undeterred. "Third, from now on when you're in my house you'll watch your language. Your mother was not impressed and you owe her an apology."

"Of course." Was all I said in reply.

This time he stared right at me as he began to speak. His confidence had returned. His sincerity as he began floored me. "Fourth, I owe you the biggest apology of all. I am so very sorry that I gave any of you the impression that I regret changing you. I never have, I never will." He nodded as he said it and I knew just how much it had hurt him that I'd asked him that question a few days ago. I wanted to throw myself at him across the desk, to hold him tightly and tell him all was forgiven if he'd just come back to us, but I couldn't. He wasn't done, he'd given me the chance to say my peace and I owed him the same courtesy.

"Nothing to forgive, I never believed it." I waved a hand to dismiss the statement.

He looked up again then and met my eyes. His sadness was as apparent in his eyes as it was in his thoughts. "Your girls did. I've been there just now, before you ask. I've told them myself that I love them and that I don't regret a single decision that brought them to us. It's the truth Edward, I don't regret any of it. Life without Bella and Nessa in it isn't a life, it's an existence and I know you know that, but want you to know it's the same for me. I've always loved Bella, always wanted her with us, right from the start. But Nessa, well, she's been the icing on the cake for me. Truly, she has. I'll never be the same, having had them in my life. I could never regret them Edward."

I smiled. "I know. I can't live without them either." I agreed.

"I know you can't, I had to watch you try once before." We both cringed as we silently recalled how it had been for me when Bella left me that one time. I'd deserved it, but I never wanted to experience that ever again, and he knew it. "I've thought a lot about what you said the other day and I can see the logic in it now. The game _has_ changed and I was stupid to try to fight the inevitable."

It was my turn to shake my head this time. "Not stupid. Perhaps a little naive, but not stupid." I chuckled lightly.

He raised his eyebrows, "Very generous of you." He chortled. "Look, the bottom line is you were right. Things have changed, we have two very vulnerable members of the family now and at some point, I'm sure, we'll be tested when it comes to protecting them. I want you to know I won't baulk again. I won't go searching for it, but if violence is the only answer, I'll fight for them, again."

It was the hugest admission I'd ever been confronted with, from Carlisle's lips, and I didn't know what to say, or do. I stared at him for a little while, wide eyed and totally gob smacked. "I don't know what to say other than thank you. I know the size of the concession that is for you." I whispered, unsure exactly what I should do or say now.

He smiled and chuckled a little deeper. "I've been a mopey ass these past weeks, please forgive me?" He asked, extending his hand across my desk.

I took it eagerly. "I accept on one condition." I replied.

"Name it, son."

"You have to help me make this council business go away." I laughed. "Fucking Eleazar won't let up and Randall is doing my head in. I get twenty emails a day from the fucker. I liked it better when he was a nomad and had no internet access." I chortled. "I've had eight calls just today. Mostly from Peter, but some from Liam and Jonathon, too. It's got to stop." I whined.

Carlisle stood then, which startled me. I felt for sure that he'd be with me on this, that he'd see the whole council as a waste of time and energy, not to mention it being dangerous to have actual files in existence that proved we were real. "No, I can't give you that assurance Edward. The council is a good idea, I put my weight behind it because I thought it would be beneficial and I still think it could be. You gave your word that you would head it, you can't back out now."

I could see from this stance and also from his thoughts that he was serious. I sighed. "Jesus. Just what I need, another fucking council advocate busting my balls." I laughed. I ran a hand through my hair and sat back in my chair further. "Alright, I'll rescind my previous offer and name another condition in its place. I'll head this ridiculous council if you agree to a place on the first board. If you won't, I won't." I stated matter of factly. I meant it too. I thought I had him then.

"Done." He extended his hand across the table and I swore under my breath. He grinned. "Like I said, your arrogance is not attractive. You were so sure I'd decline." He laughed.

"Yeah, tell it your way old man. What you call arrogance I call confidence. But yes, I was sure you'd decline. Well played." I laughed.

He stayed standing. "I'm serious Edward. I think it is a good idea and I also think you're going to make a very good chairman. Now, are we done here?" He asked across the desk, effectively cutting off any further discussion about the council.

I stood then too. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Good, so now I want a tour. You've done so much since I was here last. And I want an introduction to the young lady you've employed to teach the sciences. Don't tell your mother, but I had an Anatomy mistress once who wore her hair in a bun and had those really thick glasses. She was absolutely the hottest thing I'd ever seen. I had such a crush on her back in the day. Emmett says yours is very attractive and I'd like to see for myself." He chuckled.

All I could do was laugh. Donna, the head of the Sciences department, would wet her panties if I introduced her to 'Doctor Happy Hands' as her and Linda had nicknamed him. "Sure, I'll introduce you, but I'm not promising anything with Esme, if she asks I'll shop you."

"Ass." He huffed as I showed him into the outer office.

"Pervert." I retorted.

**Romania**

Raul knew it would take Daria several hours to walk to the town of Deva from the top of their hilltop castle. He had no doubt she'd do it, but she would be exhausted upon her return. He called for Dominique his chief soldier and the only human he'd trusted so far since returning home. When his security advisor arrived at the study door he asked the older man to follow his sister, but to not be seen if he could help it. He didn't want her followed, as such, just watched to make sure she was safe. She was all he had left.

He explained to Dominique that she was just wandering, wanting to explore, and that he wanted her kept safe, but not alerted to the fact that she had an escort.

Dominique assured him it would be done.

Raul didn't know why she wanted to look around, the township was as any other. Filled with humans and their various pursuits. Row after row of derelict houses lined the major roads and smaller, but no less dilapidated homes stretched outward from those key arteries. There was nothing of significance about Deva that should captivate his sister.

He returned his attention to the ledger and gave it no more thought.

Daria fell in behind a group of four tourists. They babbled in Dutch about all they'd seen at the castle. Daria found it amusing that the things she took for granted seemed so incessantly entertaining to the humans who visited. The tapestries that hung on the walls, the gilded furniture and the sprawling grounds and gardens. Things she saw everyday and ignored they found fascinating and wholly different to anything they'd ever seen. Daria felt sure there were other castles, other stately homes that had such abundance to offer and found it intriguing that tourists chose to come here to see it.

The walk to the bottom of the hill was long and treacherous. Unused to walking, well, anywhere, Daria found it difficult to negotiate the cobble stones that lined the road leading down.

It became apparent very quickly into her journey that she'd not thought it out at all well. She had no idea where she was going and had given no thought to how she could return. Trudging down the steep slope was one thing, being able to navigate it on the return journey was quite another. She began to falter in her determination to see the little town for herself. The four Dutch women moved ahead steadily until it was just Daria trudging down the long winding road towards the town. It grew darker with every pace she took.

She wasn't afraid of the dark because it never was truly dark for her. With exceptional sight, even at night, she could make out any shape she sought. She had other heightened senses too. She could run as though she was floating on a cloud and she was strong, very strong. She could defend herself against any human and her keen hearing meant she wasn't likely to be crept up on.

That's how she knew she was being followed. His steps hadn't resonated with her at first because she'd been enticed by the laughter and chatter of the women, but now that they were further ahead of her she could clearly make out the steady, rhythmic steps behind her.

It could have been just another tourist making his way down the hill to where he had accommodations for the night, but Daria knew better.

Along with her sharp hearing was her finely tuned sense of smell. The part of her that was vampiric gave her all the skills she'd ever need to survive into eternity, just not the craving for human blood her kin suffered.

She wasn't frightened by her follower for she knew him well. If Raul was to send anyone she knew it would be Dom. She knew his scent. He was upwind so as they both made their way down the cobbled road it floated to her nose with each movement of his body. She smiled to think that Raul had been worried enough about her to send Dom. He was her brother's most trusted security advisor, head of all the security for the castle. He'd been a soldier for her father and he was human.

When the road turned from cobblestones to tarmac it flattened out and her steps became surer. The tourists ahead of her had spread out now, fanning across the little town and going into pubs and inns, hotels and motels for their nightly meals and their warm beds. Daria memorised the name of the street, Strada Roci, and kept walking towards the brighter lights and denser sounds of the town.

The Strada Roci became the Strada losif Vulcan and then turned into the Strada Carparti. This was a major thoroughfare and was packed with cars and people. They all moved with purpose through the crowded streets, knowing exactly where they were going and why. Loud music came out into the street from the clubs and pubs that dotted the main road. People lounged against their cars and had loud conversations in every language from Western Europe. German, French, Portuguese, Russian and English. Daria could understand them all but had no desire to engage with anyone.

She searched for nothing in particular. She soaked up the general atmosphere as she wandered the busy streets. Some stores remained open and she marvelled at the produce and items available in little gift shops and market stalls. The heady smells of roasting meats and street vendors turning thick pork sausages on open grills permeated the surrounding air as she wandered. Somewhere, a few streets back towards the hill, a glass bottle smashed onto the pavement and made her jump. Two men standing beside a brightly painted blue door laughed at her as she startled. She paid them no mind.

She walked until she crossed another major road and then turned down it, towards the bright orange glow at its far end. She sidestepped humans as they gathered at the front of coffee shops and cafes. The noise was horrendous here. Everyone shouted to be heard above their friends and the growing crowd. Used to the calm serenity of the inside of the castle Daria was confused and a little intimidated by the throng. The further she moved away from the city centre though the more the crowd thinned and she began to relax as the orange glow drew her closer.

Unable to hear Dom's footsteps among the hundreds of others on the street she concentrated on her own. She walked with purpose, as though she belonged here, as though she had a right to be here as much as anyone else did. It had never occurred to her before that she did. She had never thought to wonder about what was at the foot of her hilltop castle.

The street came to its end in a magnificent concrete park. Easily half an acre of smooth cement stretched the width of two more streets and culminated at its centre with an enormous statue. This was the orange glow that had drawn her. She carefully crossed the road and marched to the top of four shallow concrete steps. They led up to the plinth that held the statue. Three rows of brickwork surrounded the statue and kept it separate from the public. Little plants lay dormant between each row, the cold winter keeping their blooms at bay for now. "Emperor Traian." She read from the brass plate at the base of the pedestal. A Romanian Emperor immortalised in bronze.

Four spot lights were embedded in the concrete and leaned their eerie glow towards his face. A strong Roman nose and beady eyes peered out at her as she stared. While she stood staring she thought about where she was and why.

This was her home and had been for nearly two hundred years and yet she knew nothing about it. She had no idea why her town would capture a likeness of a Roman Emperor. She didn't recognise any of the names of the streets and the town was as foreign to her as any other in any other part of the world would be to a tourist.

Whilst it was true that she felt freer standing there staring at a long dead soldier than she ever had, she also felt the burden of her attachment to Raul and the castle pressing on her chest. She was bound to them both, one a man, one a structure, but they both owned her.

Whether Raul would relinquish that ownership, should she test the bonds that held her to him, she did not know. They had both let her leave tonight but she knew for certain that she would return to them both this time. For now it was her home and Raul was her family and she only truly felt safe when she was inside the castle and near Raul. She would have to learn to change the habits of a lifetime if she was to truly ever be free.

When the moon was high in the night sky Daria returned down the steps and stood at the edge of the Bulevardul luliu Maniu and softly called for Dom to join her. He showed no signs of surprise that she knew he was there and she said nothing as he approached. He came from the shadows beside a long closed cafe and bowed shallowly at her side when he arrived, he'd been as silent as a cat and yet she'd known.

Daria thrust her hand outwards from her body and Dom took the pile of bills from within it. "Take me home, Dom." She whispered.

He bowed again and took her hand as he led her towards a taxi rank two blocks over. His smile was lost to the darkness of the night.

**BPOV**

It was so much nicer being in the big house without Carlisle's sadness pressing down on us. Esme was her old self again and even though Carlisle was at the hospital the previous tension of the place seemed to have vaporised and left it open and welcoming once again.

I was on the christening organisation committee again today and had been summoned to help with the stack of envelopes. We'd abandoned them four days ago when I'd caused the scene between Carlisle and Edward, but with that behind us we were now free to go back to the excitement and joy of the little acceptance cards.

Nessa was at school, Angel was asleep in her crib upstairs in Rosie's suite and Jasper had gone down to the construction site to help Emmett with the last minute details of the new house. None of us had been allowed there yet, well, none of us women anyway. Edward Carlisle and Jasper had been there many times, even Seth had gone down there to help out, but no matter how much we begged or whined no female had set foot down there as yet. Emmett was determined for it to be a surprise for Rosie and Angel and he, quite rightly, expected that if Alice or Esme got to see it they'd spill to Rosie within minutes.

I was probably more immune than the other two but got lumped in as a job lot. It made me laugh.

Edward told me that Rosie had attempted to approach it four days ago, leaving the house so she could seek comfort from Emmett after Edward had fought with Carlisle , but Emmett had headed them off half a mile before the house came into view. Rosie had been seriously pissed but he wouldn't give an inch, they couldn't see it until it was done.

Alice came skipping down the stairs waving a sheaf of papers at us. "I've made a checklist of everyone we sent invites too so we can mark them off, just in case we miss one." She threw the papers on the dining room table and Rosie sighed.

I threw her a scowl, knowing that if anyone pissed off the Christening Nazi we'd never hear the end of it. This was what Alice did best, organised.

I grabbed a small pile of envelopes and began opening them. Esme and Rosie did the same, Alice sat with her pen at the ready as we called the names and added yes or no. There were no inabilities to attend. It turns out vampires are pretty social animals.

"I've got yeses from Benjamin and Tia, Garrett and Maggie and Rennie. Oh that's nice, it will be good to see Rennie, poor man." Esme sighed.

"I've got yeses from Jonathon and Svetlana and Ivana." Rose told Alice. "I wonder if they're the only lesbian vampires on the planet?" She mused.

"No idea, maybe when we all register with the council we'll find some more?" I giggled.

"Will you register?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side.

I didn't know what she meant, weren't we all going to register? "I thought we all were, aren't we?" I asked.

Esme was nodding and I figured that meant she was. Carlisle had agreed to be a board member, so I knew that he would register. I hadn't ever thought to ask my sisters.

"We are, we want Angel on the register too. We hope one day we'll find a couple more hybrids. You know, sort of a family within a family for her." Rosie said as she grabbed for another envelope.

"That makes sense. I wish there had been another hybrid around when Nessa was little. Nathaniel was great, don't get me wrong, he helped Nessa a lot, but he was so far away all the time." I agreed.

"I don't know if I'm going to register yet. Jaz is, he's onboard with it all." Alice announced.

That threw me. I had never considered that one of them wouldn't participate. "What is your thinking on this, dear?" Esme asked before I could.

Alice thought on it a minute and then sighed. "Stefan and Vladimir pursued me my whole life. I don't want to be pursued again." She said simply.

I could appreciate that but took offence that she thought her own brother would 'pursue' her.

She pointed a long slender finger at me then. "And you can stop thinking like that. I don't think he would, you know that I would never think that. But, he's only going to be boss man for ten years, after that we might get someone who isn't quite as wonderful as my brother is, then I might be seen as valuable again." She countered.

"I can see your point Ally, but they aren't forming a government, it's just a council for information." I suggested.

"I've got a yes from the three English girls for your list Alice." Esme said, probably hoping to end our discussion.

"Huh, I didn't think they'd come." Alice mumbled as she marked them off her list. "Back to the other thing...You're right Bell's, right now it's a bank of information. And for now it's protected by Edward and Carlisle and the security at the school. But it wouldn't take much for someone to get hold of it, vampires are pretty stealthy and we've all broken into places before." She cringed when Esme hissed. "Well we have, so have you Esme so don't hiss at me." She laughed. "Say someone gets hold of my details and decides they wouldn't mind having a visionary for themselves, what then?" She asked me.

I didn't really have an answer to that, so I said what I felt. "We'd protect you Ally."

I thought it was a pretty simple thing to say, it made sense to me. They'd all fought to keep my daughter safe; I'd have no problem fighting to keep Alice safe. Simple.

I wasn't prepared for the reaction I got.

Alice jumped up out of her seat and flew around to my side of the table. She yanked me out of my seat and hugged me tightly. "Thank you Bella." She whispered as she kissed me on the cheek.

She made one loud choked sob and then fled the room.

I looked around at Rosie and Esme, who sat stunned. "What was that?" I asked.

Esme, who sat beside me, reached over and patted my hand where it sat in my lap. "We all deal with what happened differently, dear."

"What do you mean?" I asked hesitantly, hoping I hadn't upset Alice too much.

Esme tilted her head in thought, and then smiled. "Well, most of us had no problem fighting for Nessa and Seth because they are innocent children and didn't deserve what was coming. But, the rest of us aren't quite so innocent Bella. I'm only guessing, but maybe Alice wasn't so sure that someone would fight for her if it came down to it. We've all done things we regret, she is no different." She smiled weakly, but went on. "I think Alice may have just realized just how very much she is loved. Nicely done sweetheart, very nicely done." She beamed at me.

"I have a yes from Marcus and Renata. Can you mark them off that list Bell's?" Rosie asked as if nothing had ever happened. "I wonder if Nathaniel will bring Angelica." She mumbled.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review with your thoughts. I would like some more feedback regarding the inclusion of the Romanian point of view, if you would all be so kind. Thank you in advance. **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5 – Year One – The Big Glass Reveal

**EMPOV**

This was it.

I kept pacing up and down the path even though Ed was getting pissed off with the sound of my shoes scuffing along.

"For the love of god will you stop pacing?" He shouted. "She'll love it."

I kept pacing. "She had better or I'm toast." I muttered.

Jaz came through the trees then. "I'm here dickhead, now calm down before you make Ed smack you." He laughed as he came to where I now stood. He held out his fist for me and I bumped it.

He crossed to where Ed stood slumped against the porch railing and bumped his fist too. As soon as he stood still I felt a wave of calm wash over me. "Thanks dude." I mumbled.

"They're on their way, they said they'd leave a minute after I did." He told me.

All I could do was nod. My father and brothers had seen the place a heap of times and they all loved it, but Rosie was a different animal altogether. Sure she'd given me free rein to do what I wanted, but I wasn't dumb enough to think that meant I could have what I wanted. It meant I should build what I thought she would want, with splashes of what she thought I should want thrown in. I knew Rosie.

"Stop hissing for Christ's sake." Ed muttered darkly. I didn't know I had been hissing.

This was all wrong. I wanted to do the big reveal at night, when the wall of glass would be all lit up and she could see just what I was trying to achieve. But the fucking landscapers had taken too long and I'd promised her we'd be in the house before the christening, and I was out of time.

Carlisle came out of the house just as Edward said he could hear their thoughts. "It looks fantastic Em, I'm really proud of you." He told me as he came to stand by me to wait.

"Thanks dad." I said quietly.

I turned and gave the house one last look then turned back to the break in the trees. I could hear them now. Esme, Alice, Bella and Nessa, Rosie and Angel.

Thankfully the baby wasn't screaming. That was rare. She was four months old now, so a year old in human terms, and it seemed as though she'd spent the entire four months wailing. I didn't blame her; she'd had a shit start to her life. Orphaned and then adopted by two of the most useless vampires you'd ever want to meet. No gifts, no talents, no claims to fame. Just vampires.

A fucking mechanic and a chippy. Poor kid never stood a chance. I wouldn't ever tell Rosie, but I was beginning to wonder if we should've just let Ed and Bella raise her. Nessa turned out fine and I didn't remember her ever yelling like Angel did. Oh, it was slowing down, she didn't do it for as long as she used to, but she still did it a lot.

Nobody was going to miss us in the big house like we did when Ed and Bella moved out.

The group came through the trees and I heard Rosie shout real loud. She didn't make much sense though, just a loud shout. I searched her face as she came closer, to see what she might have thought of the place at a first glance, but she just had her mouth open.

"Oh Em it's gorgeous." Esme crowed. She ran right past me and up the steps. She put her hand on my shoulder as she went by, but that was it. I guess that means she liked it. She was inside and running from room to room right away, had to be a good sign, right?

Bella and Nessa went in after her only Bella stopped beside me and kissed my cheek. "You're a marvel big brother." She whispered.

Nessa tugged on the hem of my shirt. "I can come and stay over soon, can't I Uncle Em? I promise to brush my teeth and not put sticky fingers on your walls." She said with the biggest brown eyes I'd ever seen. I couldn't resist that kid.

"Yeah sure munchkin. I'll even let you put your sticky fingers on stuff." I told her with a smile. Eddie growled. Wanker. He never let the kid be a kid. He growled louder then.

Alice raced towards me and yelled over her shoulder how great it looked. Rosie was real quiet though. She just stood there with the baby in her arms and stared. I had no clue whether she liked it, she just stared.

Then she turned her face to mine. A smiled spread across her lips. "Look Angel, look what your daddy built for us, isn't it beautiful? Oh Em, it's fantastic, thank you so much." She leaned over and kissed me on the lips real quick then she shifted the baby higher on to her hip. "Look at that baby girl, our very own house, look. See what daddy did?"

Angel began to wail then and I cringed. She pushed herself away from Rosie's side and clenched and unclenched her fists towards me. I figured she wanted me to hold her to I stepped forward and took Angel from Rosie's arms. She struggled a bit but thank god she stopped crying. It was getting on my tits a bit. Instead she just looked up at me with big brown eyes like Nessa's. Clear as a bell she said 'daddy' and snuggled up under my chin.

Rosie yelled, turned and smiled the most gorgeous smile at me. I looked down at the baby who was smiling too. A great big smile just like her mothers. Teeth too. Little tiny white ones all pointy and cute.

"Did she just say that?" I asked stupidly. She obviously had, everyone left outside was gaping, so I couldn't have dreamt it. Except for Ed, he would've read it as well as heard it, so he didn't count.

Rosie stepped forward and put her hand to the back of the baby's head as if she was going to pat her, "Can you say it again little one?" She asked softly.

Angel pushed away from me a little bit and I held her tight round her back so she didn't topple over. She smiled again, teeth gleaming. "You're my daddy." She said perfectly.

"Holy fu..." Rosie slapped me upside the head before I could finish it. "Yep, I'm your daddy. Aren't you the clever one? You waited until I wanted to unveil four months of work and then you outdo me by talking? You're a one!" I laughed.

Just when I was starting to think we were fucking it all up the kid does something brilliant and I start to feel proud again. Always the way. Maybe we weren't so terrible at it after all. I felt a bit guilty for hoping now that she could talk she'd stop all the fucking wailing. Ed chuckled so I knew he'd read that from me. I shrugged a bit and he smiled. He wouldn't rat me out, this time.

The others came outside then to see what the commotion was. Everyone crowded around and Angel delighted them by saying it over and over. Then she did what Nessa had done and decided she could say anything and everything all at once. It seemed as though when a hybrid decided it had learnt something it learnt it all at once. Normal human kids said one word at a time and had to practise. Not our kids, oh no. They opened their mouths, said their first word then started holding perfectly normal conversations. Suited me fine, I never went in for all that goo-ing and gah-ing bullshit anyway.

Rosie slid her hand into the hair at the back of my neck and I shuddered involuntarily. I loved it when she did that. I loved it better when she tugged on it while she was riding my...right, kid in my arms, family crowded around, not a good time to get a boner.

So, Rosie slid her hand into my hair and I smiled at her as she smiled at the now talking a mile a minute baby. "The house looks fantastic babe." She whispered to me while everyone else was occupied with Angel. "Hand her over to someone and come show me what you've done." She whispered again all soft and sensual like.

I was rather looking forward to our first night in our own home.

**BPOV**

Just like Nessa had Angel began talking with a flourish. No leading up to it, no baby talk, no practise, she just opened her mouth and spoke.

Rosie was radiantly happy and Emmett was as proud as I'd ever seen him since she chose to say daddy first. Alice clapped her hands and jumped from foot to foot as always did when she was excited and Jasper made all the appropriate noises an Uncle should when his niece speaks for the first time. Esme hovered like a grandmother does and Carlisle smiled proudly as his little granddaughter reached for him next. She was passed around and eventually she was back in Emmett's arms. She was still saying 'daddy this and daddy that' and he was smiling so proudly still.

Edward stood beside me and sighed with pleasure at the happy scene. "Our girls are amazing, aren't they?" He asked as he dropped a kiss on my shoulder.

"They are." I agreed.

Nessa was skipping up and down the front path waiting as patiently as a seven year old could when there was new territory to explore. "Can I go in mommy?" She called from between Carlisle's legs.

"You have to wait until you're invited in Nessa." I told her.

Esme took Angel from Emmett and we waited patiently outside while he ushered his wife inside their new home for the first time. Her oohs and ahhs made us all smile as they moved through the rooms. It was truly amazing from the outside and I had no doubt the inside would be spectacular too. Emmett would've spared no expense, despite his tight time frame.

There was only three days until the christening now and only three and a half weeks until the school opened. Everything from now on was going to feel rushed.

Emmett stuck his head out of the front door and beckoned us all inside once he'd shown Rosie through quickly. We all filed in and every single one of us gasped in shock at what we saw.

The front of the house was deceptively normal. Sweet little porch, nice little front path, average front door. That's where 'normal' stopped. I walked into a show house!

Now I knew why Em had wanted to show it to us at night. As spectacular as it was during the day, at night it would be unbelievable. I stood in the middle of a great room. One giant space. A half wall wrapped around to my left and enclosed a fairly small but functional kitchen. Like Nessa, Angel would require human food prepared for her for the next seven years until she was fully grown and could fend for herself. And while Rosie wasn't yet very good with the preparation of human food, she was trying.

To my right was a little hallway that had a glass and stainless steel spiral staircase in one corner. Through the hall I could see two doors. But right ahead of me I was confronted with one giant wall of glass. It wasn't clear though, it was tinted a soft browny-beige kind of colour to match the rocks on the side of the mountain it faced. The land fell away at the back, not steeply, but enough to give the impression that just beyond that wall of glass was the edge of the world.

I stepped further into the house and went beyond the kitchen counter. On its other side was a small dining room table and six chairs. All chrome and black leather. Very modern, very Rosie. There was a door set into the wall and I figured it led off to bedrooms.

The giant space also held the living room and although the kitchen, dining and living spaces were all one open plan, it still felt cosy. A massive chrome fireplace butted up against the end wall of the living room and the shiny chimney rose up the bricked wall and out the ceiling. To the right was a pair of concertina doors that were pushed all the way back to reveal a little study. A computer desk and tall thin bookcases and another chrome and black leather chair were inside.

"Angel's room is through the hall there and our room is through here." Emmett said proudly as he gestured in the two opposite directions.

Nessa pulled me along to go and see Angel's room while everyone else went with Emmett to see the master suite. We went back down the little hall past the staircase. We opened the door to the right first but it was a bathroom. It was very nice too. Glass sided shower stall and a long white bathtub and a nice vanity with one of those modern bowl on a pedestal shaped basins. It was all finished with chrome tapware.

Nessa pulled me out the bathroom and we went in through the door on the left.

Angel's room was beautiful! It was hard to believe that Emmett had done it and not Esme or Alice. It was all pinks and purples and silvers. It had a bed that was shaped like a castle that had turrets on each corner that rose towards the ceiling and were draped with yards of frothy pink tulle. A matching beside table stood to one side and on the other was a desk with a hutch that was cut and painted to resemble the outside of a stonework castle. It had little drawbridges drawn on the drawer fronts and the handles were cast to look like flowers.

A dollhouse filled with miniature furniture and dolls sat on the floor by the windows and the closet doors were painted with ivy vines and pink and purple flowers to match the coverlet on the bed. A high bookcase was filled with children's books on the lower shelves and dolls and stuffed toys on the upper ones.

It was lovely and Nessa was instantly envious. We'd never really done too much with her room because she'd grown so fast. She never really would've suited something like this and now, at seven, it was already as if she'd grown out of childish themes. Seeing this beautiful room made me more determined to do something with Nessa's space at the cottage. I'd talk to Esme about it as soon as I got the chance.

We sidestepped the rest of the group in the dining room as they came out of the master suite and made their way to Angel's room. That meant Nessa and I could take our time and have a good look at Rosie's room.

The single door off the dining room seemed like a ruse when you opened it. A small hallway opened up to a pair of double doors on the left and another pair directly opposite on the right. Nessa raised her eyebrows and asked which ones we should go into first.

I let her choose and she chose the right pair. We opened them and stepped into a sitting room. It had a big over stuffed leather sofa against the wall and another fireplace at the far end. There were chrome end tables and modern lamps at either end of the sofa and a long metal and glass work table that ran the length of the room, against the glass wall that looked out to the mountains. Emmett's blue prints were already unrolled on the surface of the table and another carton of them stood to one end on the floor. Rosie's car magazine collection had been put into a bookcase beside the sofa and Emmett's collection of books and periodicals were in an identical bookcase at the other end. Highly polished floorboards were covered in the centre of the room with a thick rug in blacks, silvers and greys. The room was stunning, though a little clinical for my tastes. I knew it would suit Rosie and Em perfectly and was just a bigger version of what they'd had at the big house before we'd shifted it all to make Angel's little nursery.

Nessa wasn't too interested in it and she dragged me through the double doors on the other side of the little hall. I expected to see another chrome and black leather arrangement in their bedroom and gasped when I saw what Emmett had chosen.

The walls were a washed out crimson colour with stark white contrasting skirting and cornice. There were old fashioned plaster ceiling roses and hanging from them was a pair of stunning crystal bauble chandeliers. You could tell they were authentic and not copies because they threw diamond light in a honey coloured hue. I knew from Esme how hard that was to duplicate. Modern glass ones would've glowed bright white.

This room had the same highly polished floors as the sitting room, but in this room they were covered with a massive Turkish carpet in reds and creams with green ivy coloured highlights. The giant bed rose out of the centre of the room and dominated the space. The dark timber felt warm and inviting and the dozen gold covered pillows strewn across a crimson and gold damask comforter made me want to leapt into it and sleep the day away.

A matching dresser and chair stood off to one side and on it were gilt photo frames with pictures in that I'd taken and developed in my darkroom. A whole family portrait taken a few days after Angel had come home, a shot of the new family in the pool house against the bright sunlit windows. Another of Angel in Emmett's arms as he sat on the sofa in the living room and one of Nessa with Angel in her lap at the cottage.

Nessa ran off to find the others then. She wasn't interested in beds and boring dressers or photos, so that left me alone to find their bathroom. A single door led into a normal bathroom. A glass shower stall, a regular sized tub and a vanity unit done in the same timber as the dresser and bed. It was lovely but not what I was expecting. Rosie's one stipulation was that she have a bigger tub than ours. Emmett was in trouble.

**RPOV**

The house was magnificent and I made sure to tell Em that I thought it was perfect. Angel's room was amazing, the living areas were spectacular with the wall of glass and our room was both romantic and cosy. I loved that we had our own sitting room and new that it would become a favourite space of mine in years to come.

Angel had her own little bathroom and we had an ensuite too. I scowled at Emmett when I saw that it held just a regular tub, but I couldn't be too pissed at him, he'd done such a brilliant job on everything else.

He slid his hands around my waist and held me up against his chest. "You like?" He whispered.

"I love it, thank you babe." I turned in his arms and kissed him firmly on the lips.

Nessa groaned and Alice giggled.

"I hope you aren't too peeved that there's no swimming pool in our bathroom. It wouldn't fit and the land was all wrong." He screwed up his eyes adorably.

"I'm not peeved babe. I love it all. We'll be so happy here, I know it." I told him honestly.

"Good." He let me go then and grabbed my hand. "Come upstairs." He smirked. His dimples stood out and I nearly swooned. God he was gorgeous.

Edward cringed and I shot him a 'look' for listening to my thoughts.

I followed Em up the winding staircase and found myself in another glass room. Right in the centre of it was a massive Jacuzzi tub.

"Jesus Christ." Jaz crowed as he too came up the stairs.

I flung myself at Emmett then. I peppered his face and neck with kisses.

"Does that mean you like it babe?" He asked.

I let him go and turned to my family. "Can Angel stay with you guys at the big house tonight dad?" When Carlisle nodded I turned to the others. "Would you all mind showing yourselves out, we're going to christen my new Jacuzzi."

There was laughter and moans and groans but they all left, taking Angel with them. I should've felt bad about her not spending the first night in our new home with us, but it was hard to feel bad as I slipped below the surface of the bubbling hot water of the Jacuzzi.

**EPOV**

I ran out that house as fast as I could go. The others might be whining about having to hear the splashing and giggling and moaning coming from the Jacuzzi as we ran towards the big house, but I had to contend with that _and_ their thoughts as they did it!

I was on the back deck of the house for a full two minutes before the rest of the family caught me up. Alice was laughing her head off and Bella was trying to hide the fact that she was too.

Nessa was oblivious, thankfully.

We were all enlisted to help set up for the christening that night. With only a few days to go there was much to do, according to Alice. Our first guests would arrive the following day and then our peaceful little slice of Washington would be lost to us for a week. Luckily for me, and for Nessa, we were to be the evening's entertainment, so we got to sit at the piano for a solid two hours before Bella announced it was time to go home so Nessa could go to bed. School was out for the summer so she didn't have to go to bed as early as usual now. But it was still nice to have the house to ourselves, and Bella all to myself, while Nessa slept. I made good use of the time.

The next morning I begged off the preparations and ran towards my school. It was too early for any of the humans to be there so I walked the grounds at leisure. I approached from the east, through the forest where the Z4 met its death. If I closed my eyes I could relive every second of that birthday. I shouldn't because walking the grounds of a school with a massive hard on isn't a good look, so I ran out through the trees and came out into the sunshine, carefully listening for any mental voices, just in case. There were none.

All the buildings were finished now. The two-storey classrooms that ran down the eastern side of the trees loomed tall in the bright morning sunshine. I peered in through the bottom floor windows and smiled contentedly to see the gleaming pianos in each of the three practise rooms. When I'd ordered the three different pianos the dealer thought I was mad, but there had been method in my madness.

I personally preferred a Bösendorfe, like the one at Grahams, because they used a softer spruce timber for the soundboard compared to the Steinways and Fazioli's that used harder woods, thinking the rigidity gave greater projection.

Aesthetically the other two would last longer, spruce had knots in it that would eventually mar the surface of my Bösendorfe, but the sound was so much superior that the cost to replace it in twenty years would be worth it. The look of the piano's finish wouldn't dampen its beautiful sound though. But my beloved Bösendorfe was in the auditorium, not the practise rooms, and it would be a pleasure to replace her when the time came. By then I hoped I'd have room at my home to house the old one.

There was one Steinway Tricentennial Grand in the first practise room, a Fazioli F278 in the second and a Steinway Hamburg in the third. They were all hideously expensive and were worth every red cent I'd spent. I'd played on them all, for hours at a time, and each one gave me a distinct sound. I've played almost every variety of piano in my time, some in better condition than others, and every single one of them gave me a sound as uniquely different as the next. No two pianos could replicate the sound of another, just as no two players could coerce the same sound from the same piano. It's what I was counting on. I had accepted admissions for twenty students to study piano under me and I had no doubt that every one of them would produce a unique sound on the instruments I'd chosen. As yet nobody but me had played the Bösendorfe. It would be saved for concerts and recitals and maybe one day competitions and orchestral recordings. But for now it was mine wholly and I loved it.

I moved through the school quietly, taking in all the changes that had occurred in the past two weeks. The gardens were finally finished, the playground had been secured into its metal brackets and its shade sails had been tethered to the buildings to protect the children from the sun. There were now twenty outdoor tables and matching chairs in the courtyard that opened out from both the cafeteria and the student restaurant.

That had been Esme's idea and had been one of the most popular inclusions so far. Of all the applications we'd received a good twenty percent had been specifically for the catering school. So I'd added a student kitchen and restaurant. Two days a week the cafeteria would be closed and the students and staff would eat from the restaurant. The students themselves would prepare everything from scratch and at the end of each meal served they would be graded by their peers.

I had opened applications for students seventeen years and older only. The youngest I'd accepted was sixteen and I'd relented for her only because she had already won a regional scholarship to study under a master Italian chef over the summer. There were thirty other catering students so far and they would operate the restaurant on a rotational basis. The head of the cooking school Margaret Stein would split the children into three teams of ten and they would rotate through the various parts of running their own kitchen or restaurant. At any one time a student might be on the team that is responsible for the menu planning or the execution of the meals in the restaurant that week. He or she might be on the team that has to serve or clean up after the meal or they might be part of the background running of the kitchen and be responsible for paying the suppliers, the wages of the staff or dealing with health inspectors who would be visiting regularly.

The sporting oval had received its artificial grass covering and the bleachers had been erected around the northern side. The sporting department was still small, a universal coach and two assistant physical education teachers but I was hoping to expand that during our second year. We'd need to expand the facilities to make that happen and I was still in negotiations with the conglomerate that owned the property adjacent to mine to make that a reality next year. They were reluctant to sell me the property so far, but I was fairly sure that after a face to face meeting I could convince or scare them to sell.

I wandered past the oval and used the master key to open Emmett's 'nirvana' as he liked to call it, the mechanical workshops. I'd been worried they weren't going to be finished by the time the school year started but my construction team had proved me wrong, thank heavens. I had forty-seven boys and two girls starting on the first day and didn't relish having to call their parents and tell them the facilities weren't ready.

It was a massive building, the construction department. It was split into four equal quarters each with its own speciality. Electrical trades, construction and wood working, metal fabrication and plumbing and a mechanical workshop and vehicle bay at the north eastern corner.

Emmett was the co-ordinator for all four sections but he would only teach in the construction section himself. He had hired three others to oversee the other sections and they would report directly to him. He'd wanted Rosie to come onboard and teach in the mechanical school but she was happy at the garage with Sam and I had to agree. Rosie and hormonal teenage apprentices would not mix. Hell, Rosie and school wouldn't mix. She had no patience and no tolerance for anyone who was learning something she already knew all about.

I wandered through the pristine workshops and wondered how long they'd stay like that. Rosie kept the garage at home as clean as a chef kept his kitchen and I could only hope that Emmett would insist that was the case here. We'd soon find out.

The three enormous roller doors were bolted shut for now but would soon enclose three vehicles, of varying component make up, for the apprentices to use and abuse. I'd sourced some written off cars from an insurance company the apprentices could use. Jasper had jokingly suggested the use of my Veyron as an example of technological advancement, I shuddered at the thought of someone tinkering with one of my cars, let alone the Veyron.

I closed and relocked the workshops and went into the western building. The general curriculum classrooms were all filled with desks and chairs now and they seemed a lot more welcoming than anything we'd ever had at Forks High. Possibly because it was all new, possibly because I had personally accepted the children who would use it all and I felt as though I 'knew' them and could imagine them there.

Alice had already filled her classrooms with bolts of cloth and bright pictures and design ideas. The walls were lined with photos of models in various poses and the tables already had her timetable printed and ready for the students to use sitting on them. Alice was nothing if not prepared.

I ran a hand over the benches in Bella's darkroom and smiled at the thought of her there. I knew she was nervous to begin teaching but also knew she would be wonderful. She was so passionate about her pictures and I knew the children would love her, and what she could do.

Her office was on the bottom floor on the eastern wall and faced out into the gardens at the front of the school. I could see into it from my office on the top floor of the east block and expected I would spend a lot of hours staring down there over the coming years.

I walked the front gardens then. They ringed the horseshoe shaped drop off and pick up point and closed off the parking lot from the school. They were beautiful. They would only get better with age too.

I took a short walk around the parking lot and tried to imagine it filled with cars and buses dropping off my students. I was nervous too. I'd never taught anyone anything other than Nessa at my piano, so I was a little worried about not only being a first time teacher but also a first time principle.

Everyone always assured me I could do it and I had no doubt that I could, but it was a little daunting to have to do it all for the first time, at the same time. Perhaps I should've just been the principle first and then eased into a teaching role later?

I shook myself and tried to push the self doubt out of my head. This was my dream. Not too many people, let alone vampires, got to live out their dream and I should be grateful for the chance.

Pep talk over I headed back into the grounds and up to my office.

It was a short hour later when I heard them. Vampires. Six of them and coming in fast from the forest to the north east. Fuckers were coming to ambush me.

**BPOV**

I told them they could try but I also warned them that he was likely to be really pissed off and pretty belligerent. They'd said they'd go anyway. I wished them luck and went inside to find out what the gossip was from their women.

Nessa ran off to be with Seth, Rosie and Angel in the pool house so I went inside to greet the guests.

"Any room for one more?" I shouted as I went into the living room. I could hear them all upstairs in Esme's studio and wanted to announce my presence.

"Come on up, big news!" Charlotte called.

I flew up the stairs and ran into the studio. I was hugged and kissed by Siobhan, then Carmen and then I turned to Charlotte. "Spill." I giggled as I pulled her into a tight hug.

She turned to Kate who was grinning impishly. "Can I tell her?" Charlotte asked. Kate nodded. "Randall and Kate are getting married!" She shouted on the top of her lungs.

"Oh my god, that's so great, congratulations." I joined in the shouting and raced across the room to hug and kiss Kate both hello and in celebration of her wonderful news. "Show me the rock." I insisted as she thrust her hand out for me to see. "Oh it's gorgeous. I'm so happy for you both." I crowed as I turned the massive pink diamond from side to side on her tiny finger.

"We haven't set a date, and he only asked me two days ago, but we want it to be soon." She giggled.

I was about to ask why the giggling, and why the hurry, when Alice gasped, closed her eyes and then burst out laughing. "Are you serious?" She asked Kate who sat slack jawed and embarrassed.

Whatever Alice had seen it was true. The look on Kate's face said so. She nodded minutely and cringed when Alice began to giggle again.

"Oh shut up, it's not funny. He's killing me and he won't budge." Kate whined in a sing song girly voice.

"Come on you two, you can't leave us hanging, what's going on?" Siobhan pled.

"Yeah, come on, share you two." Esme admonished.

Alice held her hands up in defeat and tilted her head at Kate. "If you want to tell them it's up to you, but you've been warned, they are evil and will be merciless and I don't need precognition to know it." Alice chuckled.

Carmen hadn't said a word the entire time so it was to her that I turned. "You know, don't you?" I accused playfully.

She pretended to zip her lips and throw away the imaginary key. Kate groaned. "Oh god. Does everyone in our house know then?" She asked her coven mate. Carmen only nodded. Kate groaned again. "Jesus. Fine. I'll spill." She sat back down on Esme's little sofa and sighed. "He won't sleep with me until we're married. There, I said it." She huffed.

The room erupted then. Even Rosie shouted her displeasure at Randall's intentions from down in the pool house. I heard Jasper groan and then the sound of him running down the stairs then the unmistakable slam of the front door as he ran off. He wanted no part in the details of this conversation.

I silenced the room with a raised hand and then I whispered. "With the little girls downstairs swimming happily how about we adjourn this to my house?"

Everyone nodded.

"I've got a better idea." Rosie said from downstairs. "Seth, will you take the girls to my house please? Tell Emmett to keep them there until I collect them. Thanks."

We all giggled. The two girls whooped their joy at being able to go to Rosie's to play, Seth huffed but went anyway. When they were away to the new house Rosie came upstairs and burst into Esme's study. "Right biatches, how are we going to get Kate laid before the wedding?"

**Romania**

After four months of work Raul was beginning to resent the mess his father had left behind.

The castle was in impeccable condition and the farms ran like clockwork, but his father's affairs were a mess. He'd made no provision for his children and although the law of the land said that he and Daria would inherit everything their father owned there had been no provision made for his Aunt. Transferring the property and land into his and Daria's names should have been a mere trifle, possession should simply be handed down to the logical heirs. However, proving his father had lived was as difficult as proving he was dead.

There were no records of his birth, of course, and similarly there was no record of his death. The same was true for his uncle Vladimir. No proof of his existence other than the records of property taxes paid, and no proof of his death to stop the horrendous payments needing to be met on into perpetuity.

Raul wanted to provide for his sister and his aunt and to make sure that should something ever befall him, as it had his father, his family wouldn't be faced with the same problems he now was.

His legal advisor Alessi was good at what he did but he only worked within the law. The human law, and that was useless to Raul. There was no way to explain to Alessi that his father wasn't coming back and no way to transfer the deeds to the castle and all it's worth to Raul without first proving his father was finally dead. It was an impossible situation and Raul had no answers.

Someone would soon ask after Stefan and Raul had no answer to give them. He'd worked hard to learn how to run the farms and he had worked tirelessly to improve both conditions for the workers and also the productivity and quality of the product they sold at market. Together, with his farm advisor Marco, they realised a 12% increase in profit from trade in the quarter since Raul had taken the helm of the business. Joel, the man on whom Raul relied for all things regarding the castle and its tourist business, was impressed with the speed with which his young charge had learnt the very complicated business of marketing. The same quarter that the farms experienced an increase in turnover the castle too out performed its previous eight years of profits. Raul was both pleased and proud to have accomplished it, but frustrated and angry that it had all had to be done in his father and uncles names.

No amount of research could show him a way to make his father and uncle disappear in such a way that left him free and clear to inherit what was already his. Without making that happen he could do nothing in his own right. He couldn't purchase machinery because the money the farms made could only be released with his father or uncles signatures. He couldn't purchase more land or sell any of it should he so wish. He couldn't draw cash to buy a sausage from a street rat!

He wanted to confide in Daria but his pride wouldn't let him. For three nights he had walked the corridor at the foot of the stairs that rose to her chamber, and for three nights he'd returned to his father's study to search for another way to make it happen without burdening his sister.

On the fourth night he took the first step towards her room, determined to share his worries with her. The click of her bedroom door and the soft footfalls of her steps startled him and he fled back down the corridor to the study. She came in with a soft knock at his door and told him she was once again walking into town. He wished her well and again offered her an escort. She declined, again, and then left him alone once again.

As he had the other times she'd gone wandering in the little town he summoned Dominique and asked him to follow but keep a respectable distance. Dom never complained, he simply bobbed shallowly and followed Daria through the courtyard and out the front gates leaving Raul to sink his head into his hands and worry about the mess he faced.

As the iron gate swung shut behind Daria and Dominique he reached for the telephone on the desk. It was a last resort but it was the only one he could think of.

He dialled the dozen numbers that would connect him and waited as patiently as he could until the call was answered at the other end.

"Hello?" The deep voice sang.

"Unchi Eleazar?" (Uncle Eleazar?) He asked in his native tongue.

A happy sigh and then, "Raul, este ca tu copil?" (Raul, is that you child?)

"I. I este unchiul lui Eleazar, am nevoie de ajutorul tau." (It is I. Uncle Eleazar I need your help.) Raul said in a soft voice. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Eu trebuie să vă avertizez, dacă mă trădează ca tine am tatăl meu va vâna tine ca un câine." (I must warn you, if you betray me like you have my father I will hunt you like a dog.)

A long sigh on the other end and then his Uncle answered. "M-am luptat pentru ceea ce a avut dreptate. Dacă vrei ajutorul meu trebuie sa ma permită acest lucru." (I fought for what was right. If you want my help you must allow me that.)

Raul thought about that for a moment before answering. He knew that his father had waged an unwinnable war against innocents, he knew that what had happened in America was his father and his uncles own fault, but he also knew that his Uncle Eleazar had been privy to both sides of the fight. He hadn't warned his father what he was likely to face and he'd stood at the side of the enemy to fight. To trust him now seemed like idiocy. But he had no choice.

"Eu vă va permite acest lucru. Tatăl a fost greşit. Poţi veni?"( I will allow you that. Father was wrong. Can you come?) Raul asked Eleazar resignedly.

"Desigur, esti familie Raul. Aceasta va dura două zile de călătorie, poate să aştepte două zile, copil?" (Of course, you are family Raul. It will take four days travel, can it wait four days, child?) Eleazar asked, already motioning for Carmen to join him at his side.

"Acesta va. Eu va pleca cuvânt la poarta de intrare pentru dumneavoastră. Mulţumesc, unchiule." (It will. I will leave word at the gate for your entry. Thank you, Uncle.) Raul replaced the reciever and sighed.

As last resorts went it was an extremely risky one. Four days was not long enough to turn another to use to help murder his uncle should it be required. Would Daria asist if he asked her to?

These were the things Raul contemplated while he waited for his sister to return to the castle after her walk to Deva.

* * *

**A/N: A map of Edward's school is available and might help for when the school opens and things get a little complicated in future chapters. It is available only to those who review. **

**I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, it was a joy to write. **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6 – Year One – A Council of Peers

**Randall POV**

He'd know we were approaching by now. He'd either smell us, hear us or read us as we ran through the forest. None of us knew what sort of reception we were going to get, and even Bella had said she thought we'd be met with reluctance as well as one pretty pissed off vampire.

Not a good combination in my estimation.

"Let's go slow, eh?" I suggested to the others.

Carlisle laughed. "He's my son." He snorted.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, sorry." I laughed. Obviously he wouldn't attack his own father, would he?

We sped up again and when we came through the trees Peter whistled. "Shit he's done some work on the place."

"He doesn't do things by halves." Eleazar said. "Look at that." He pointed towards the now finished building on the western side of the property. It had three enormous roller doors on one end. It was huge. Gigantic. Big enough to assemble a Jumbo jet inside it.

Peter whistled again. "I wonder if I can come here, I wouldn't mind learning how to read and write from a prissy little miss in a tight white shirt." He chuckled.

Carlisle bellowed his laughter this time and I wondered what the joke was because Peter's just wasn't that funny. I raised my eyebrows hoping he'd share but he waved his hand and beckoned us forward.

"Bella's going to teach photography here, right?" I asked jokingly as we made our way to the front of a two-storey building at the road end of the property. Carlisle turned on me then and hissed. I held up my hands in surrender. "I'm just kidding, jeez." I laughed.

The six of us went into the building and were met with a tasty little chick with a name tag that read Felicity. She sat behind a massive U-shaped desk covered with papers and stapled reports.

"Hello Flick." Carlisle said casually.

She didn't flinch, which was testament to how highly she regarded him, or like so many others, how much of a crush she had on the man. She smiled then. "Hello Dr Cullen, it's so nice to see you again. You're lookin' good. You gonna introduce me to your posse?" She laughed.

"Not on your life." He replied. "This lot are no good for nice girls like you." He chuckled. "Mind if we go on up to see Edward?" He asked smoothly. The doc was a lady killer from way back. Everyone said so. Even before he met and married Esme he had been popular with the ladies. Never did anything about it, so the rumours said, but they loved him anyway.

He had the best resolve of any vampire I'd ever known, besides Edward. For him to be a surgeon, around all that blood, he had to be something more than merely supernatural.

"Of course." Felicity said. "You go on up, Linda will show you in." She pressed a button on the telephone at her side and Carlisle ushered us all up the stairs to the left of her desk.

I was eager to meet this Linda. Bella hated her with a passion, Katie told me so. Esme was on Bella's side and I'd never known Esme to hate anyone. She wasn't all that much to look at I thought as we got up the stairs and into the office up there.

How she looked, to me at least, was calculating. I was good at first impressions.

"Hello Dr Cullen, so lovely to see you again." Linda said. Funny, she'd said almost exactly what Felicity had said and yet this one sounded about as sincere as your friendly neighbourhood IRS agent when he visited. She was full of shit, but hid it quite well.

"Hello Miz Collins, is Edward in?" Carlisle drawled. The way he said Miss as Miz wasn't lost on any of us. No niceties here, not even a first name or a nickname with this one. And no friendly banter either. The doc didn't like her either. Hmmm.

She held up one finger to ask him to wait, which just seemed rude seeing as Flick had already announced our presence to her. She was trying to show us she was in control of the office, and if I was reading the situation right, in control of who got to see Edward too. He knew we were here anyway; no way he could've missed our stink at this range.

When Edward answered the page she told him that his father and some 'other gentlemen' were here to see him.

"Show them into the conference room, I'll be with them shortly." He all but growled.

Not exactly a warm reception there, and not a totally unexpected reception either.

She smiled as she replaced the receiver and waved a hand to her right. We followed her down a short corridor and into a clinically furnished conference room. Big long shiny table, a dozen boring black leather chairs, a couple of phones, a white board, generic coffee maker, the usual set up. I took a seat on one side of the table and the others all picked a chair for themselves. I watched Miz Collins intently as she offered everyone a drink. Eleazar accepted a coffee and Peter took a soda but I declined. I sucked at hiding the fact that I wasn't drinking. So far I pretty much sucked at all the human interactions I'd been practising. The only one I was good at so far was not killing any of them. I'd not strayed once since going to live with Katie in Denali.

Linda paid particular attention to Carlisle, even though his distaste for her was evident to us. She fussed and fawned over his needs and when Edward came in she did the same to him.

"What can I get you Mr Cullen?" She simpered as he strode in, pissed off grimace on his face.

"Nothing Linda, leave us please." He told her coldly.

Her face crumpled but she said nothing as she left. He pushed the door shut after she left and then he strode over to the table and took a seat.

He looked down my side of the table and then down the other. "What the fuck do you lot want?" He hissed.

Peter chuckled and leaned forward in his seat. "What? No 'how's it going Pete' or a 'hey it's been four months since we killed those dudes together, how you been'? I'm hurt Eddie."

Edward closed his eyes and cringed. "Don't fucking call me Eddie for a start." He hissed. "Hello Dieter, nice to see you. Hello Randall, nice to see you. Hello Peter, how's it been going since we killed those dudes? Good to see you Liam. Hello dad, we'll talk about this later. Eleazar." He nodded at Eleazar stiffly.

We all muttered our own hellos to him but he still looked dark and pissed off.

"Very welcoming, son." Carlisle chuckled. "We've brought the mountain to Mohammed."

Edward rolled his eyes but said nothing. He leaned back in his chair. He'd read our intentions already and I wondered why we were going to bother explaining it to him. "Ah, give the man a prize, Randall gets it." He snarled at me.

I grinned. I liked it when he was snarky. It made it much more interesting to get what I wanted out of him. "I'll take an hour with your wi..." That was as far as I got.

Eleazar shouted at me to stop, Carlisle held me back with his right hand, Edward back with his left. "Jesus Christ Randall, can you keep it in your pants for half an hour?" Liam berated me with a grimace from the other side of the table.

I laughed. "Sorry, it was a joke. Sorry Ed, I'm sorry to have to tell you but I've been taken off the shelf mate. Katie's going to make an honest man of me." I grinned. "I'm going to have to stop baiting you about Bella soon. Sorry, I know you'll miss it." I chuckled.

I could only imagine how happy Edward was about that but outwardly he gave no indication that it meant anything to him at all.

"Edward." Carlisle growled softly. "Randall and Kate are getting married; you could at least offer your congratulations."

Edward shot Carlisle a filthy look but softened his features as he held his hand out to me across the table. "Congratulations Randall. I'm sure you'll both be very happy." He smiled then and went on. "Up there in Alaska. I'm sure you'll both be very happy up there."

I laughed then and took his hand. "Thanks mate. Does this mean you don't want to be my Matron of Honour?" I laughed.

The others laughed quite loudly, but all Edward said was 'Mmm'. I decided I'd leave it there.

"Okay, so you know we're here because you've been avoiding us, so we thought we'd force the issue while we were here for Angel's christening." Liam smiled lots of perfect white teeth and innocence on his face.

"You're looking at the first six members of your council, Edward." Carlisle announced.

You could see the fight leave Eddie's face at that news. He knew he was out numbered, out manoeuvred and of excuses. It was a good look, it suited him.

"Very democratic, gentleman." He drawled as he sat back in his chair once again.

Eleazar chuckled lightly. "Oh it was. You wouldn't take our calls or answer our messages so we sent letters to every coven that was at the fight and asked them to nominate someone for the first council." He told a stunned Edward.

Dieter took over then, "Ya, then we had a list of nominees. We sent a second letter and asked everyone to vote for who they wanted off this shortened list."

"You're looking at the winners. Apart from Carlisle, apparently he was coerced into joining." Peter laughed.

Edward ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck." He sighed quietly.

**BPOV**

It was so nice to visit with the women without a threat hanging over our heads. That was rare for us. At our wedding we had the worry of what would have to happen to have Nessa born safely. At her christening Edward and Alice had the worry of knowing Eleazar planned to go to Romania to explain our gifts, and even though nobody else had known about that at the time, looking back on it now it did seem tense and strained.

But now it was carefree and fun. Everyone was excited to see each other, there was much news to share. The two little girls held court and kept our visitors captivated with their antics all day long.

We took our guests down to Rosie's house and it was inspected and gushed over for hours. Angel went down for her afternoon nap and I took Nessa home for a little quiet time with Seth before Edward came home from work. They played in the courtyard – hopscotch of all things. A funnier site you never would see. A six feet three inch dark brown boy daintily skipping up and down the cobblestoned courtyard in my backyard, egged on by a tiny little copper haired girl who clapped and cheered when he did well.

I hadn't heard from Edward all day, which wasn't unusual, per se. I just thought I'd either see him or get a call or text from him at some point today considering the men had gone to the school to ambush him about the council. But I'd heard nothing.

I didn't want to worry but it had been six hours since the six men had run off in the direction of Port Angeles, and with no word since it was possible that a violent altercation had occurred. Flick or Linda would've called if that were the case, surely? Edward was really, really pleased he'd been able to put off the forming of the council so far. I had no doubt he would've been less than pleased with their intention to get the council up and running _now. _He would plead, saying he was too busy with the opening of the school. They'd counter saying that the chance would pass and seeing as they were all here for the christening anyway they should get on with it. He'd argue and say that he hadn't gotten a vote to elect any of them, especially Eleazar. They'd reply and say that everyone else had been consulted and he shouldn't have had a vote anyway, because he was going to be boss man. Edward would huff and puff and they'd wear him down, eventually. Carlisle was sure, me not so much. He was pretty stubborn when he wanted to be. His continued distaste for all things Eleazar was proof of that.

When the sun began to dip behind the mountains I began dinner. Nessa had requested ribs and a baked potato. It was a fairly human meal right up until she upended a bottle of maple syrup onto the ribs. She mopped it all up with a rolled up crumpet, which was disgusting and even made Seth cringe, and he would eat just about anything.

"I like it mommy, don't worry." She fluttered her beautiful long lashes at me as I cringed at the sopping mess on her plate.

"I know you do, that's what worries me." I laughed and returned to the sink.

Seth ate the ribs with bbq sauce and the potato with butter, perfectly normal. Why my daughter had to smother everything she ate with something disgustingly sweet was beyond me. But as long as she didn't do it at school it was no problem.

"When is my daddy coming home?" She asked between bites.

"You are a grub." Seth laughed as a river of syrup ran down her chin. He passed her a napkin and she swatted at the sticky mess. "I gotta go soon missy." He reminded her. He had been summoned to the Rez tonight to celebrate his sister's engagement to Jack.

"I don't know when daddy will be home darling. You might be stuck with just me tonight." I sulked playfully.

She smiled widely. "I like it when it's just us too mommy. We can tell secrets and giggle about the boys being silly." She giggled.

Seth stuck his tongue out at her. "So I'm silly am I?" He huffed teasingly, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yep." She replied popping the p just like Alice would. "Both my aunties say that boys are stupid. Auntie Rosie thinks your wolf brother Embry is rude. He keeps kissing Maia in the storeroom at her work and Aunty Alice thinks Uncle Emmy is stupid because he lets Aunty Rosie yell at him all the time." She said matter of factly.

She scooped another big mouthful of potato into her mouth and grinned around it as both Seth and I sighed. "Nessa did your aunts _say_ those things or did they _think_ them?" Seth asked firmly.

She tipped her head to the side and thought about the answer real hard. "They thought them." She said quietly.

Seth sighed again. I thought I would stay out of it and see how he handled it, so I turned back to the sink and busied myself with the dishes there.

"Oh punkin, we talked about this, you gotta ask first." He said sternly. I could hear her begin to sniffle and knew she'd soon be crying. Being admonished by Edward or by me was one thing, but being in strife with Seth was another altogether for Nessa.

"It was way before Sethy." She hiccupped and I imagined her wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Daddy got cross at me seven big weeks ago for listening and I promise I haven't doned it since then." She sniffled again and I smiled to myself. I could just see her ticking off the weeks on her chubby fingers.

"Do you mean you heard this stuff from your aunts before your dad told you to ask first?" Seth asked.

"Yes." She said loudly. I could just picture the defiance and the belligerence on her face as she said it; it would be just like mine. "I told you I was a good girl. It's not my fault you don't believe me, stupid boys." She snorted.

Seth started laughing then. "God punkin, you're not makin' it easy for me to say sorry when you call me stupid." He laughed again. I heard the scrape of his chair and then the scrape of hers. "Sorry I got cross. I should've let you explain it to me first. You gonna forgive me, even though I'm just a stupid boy?"

I heard her tiny little giggle and then the loud smack as she kissed his cheek. "I forgive you Sethy. You're my best friend and you're not allowed to stay mad at friends, right mommy?" She asked me.

I turned and saw that Seth had her on his lap in her seat. Her eyes were clear now although I could see the redness from when she'd been crying. The adoration in their eyes for each other was remarkable. "That's right little one." I agreed and turned back to the sink so they wouldn't see the emotion on my face.

Soon, so very soon, their relationship would begin to change and I'd lose them both to each other. It had been two and a half years since she was born and it wasn't nearly enough. It would never be enough.

"Give us another kiss punkin, I gotta go now." I waited for the sound of another kiss to his cheek then turned to say my goodbyes to him.

He ran off through the trees in the direction of the Rez and then it was just me and Nessa alone in the cottage.

"So, what will we do with ourselves tonight missy?" I asked her as I put the last of her dishes into the sink to soak.

I was sure she'd ask to go to Rosie's or to the big house to visit with the guests. She scrunched up her eyes adorably and then smiled. "Can we sit at your desk and look at pictures of big girls bedrooms please?" She asked.

I nodded. "An excellent idea. Let's go." I let her go ahead of me down the hallway and pulled her onto my lap in the chair as I cracked open my laptop. "What sort of thing did you have in mind?" I asked.

"I like dolphins. Can you make it look like it's under the sea?" She asked.

Oh fantastic I thought sarcastically whilst telling Nessa of course I could make it look like it was under the sea. Jeez.

**EPOV**

"You bastards." I whined. I'd been had. Quite convincingly too, and with some panache as well. That's what made it all the more galling.

I'd had no idea that letters had gone out or that anyone had voted. I had been sure that if I just ignored their phone calls and emails it would go away, die down and be put off until I could come up with a better reason for turning the position down.

I wondered if Alice had seen it and kept it all from me.

And then I wondered something else. I turned to my father. "Did you get a letter?" I asked.

He smiled and I knew he had. "I did." He said.

"Fuck." I said again. I had been cornered. "The others? Em? Jaz? My sisters?" I asked.

He nodded. "And Bella." He added for good measure.

"Mother fucker." I hissed, making Randall snort loudly with laughter.

"She voted for me, before you ask." Randall crowed.

"Son of a bitch." I hissed again. They were all pissing themselves with laughter now. At my expense which pissed me off even more. I needed a way out of this and I thought I'd found one. "Alright, so you five clowns have been voted in and you," I pointed to Carlisle, "Were roped in, that's great, good for you, congratulations. That doesn't mean anything to me. I wasn't voted in, nobody nominated me and I certainly didn't accept any nomination."

I sat back in my chair and linked my hands behind my head smugly. Suck on that I thought.

They didn't look, or sound, worried about that argument at all. Five of them looked to Liam and he smiled. "We thought of that." He smiled smugly and I cringed. "The letters that went out also asked for a nomination for the first chairman. You won, no other nominations, nobody stood against you, you won unopposed. Congratulations."

"Fuck." I hissed again. "This is ridiculous. I haven't got the fucking time to do this now. I've got a school to open in three weeks. Over a hundred kids are going to turn up here and expect an education. I can't be thinking about you pricks and the council while I'm doing that." I countered.

Five of them looked to Dieter this time. "We've thought of that too. The letters asked for someone to volunteer to be secretary. Your lovely mother has volunteered. So all you need to do is delegate to her, she'll handle anything you need her to." He smiled smugly.

"Jesus Christ are you serious?" I asked. They all nodded as they smiled. Every thought in the room was about how clever they'd been, how there were no holes in their plan. "I didn't get to vote for any of you." I tried that tack; see how far it got me.

"You can't vote," Peter said, "You're the boss. You don't get to vote in the board members. You might want to vote for someone who owes you a favour and then the board would be tainted. So the letter said you wouldn't get a vote. Everyone thought that was a good idea. Once you've finished your decade as our leader you can vote then." He chuckled.

A fucking decade. Fantastic.

"But Carlisle wasn't voted in, I bribed him. Your board is tainted already. You should disband and start again. Send new letters." I grinned.

"Nope. Everyone knows how and why Carlisle has been put on the board. Nobody is worried about him siding with you because he thinks you're an asshole most of the time anyway." Randall chortled.

Carlisle had the good grace to look apologetic but I noticed he didn't deny thinking I was an asshole. I scowled at him, he smiled back.

"You bastards." I chuckled.

"We are." Randall agreed. "So, since we were all in town for the christening anyway we thought we should get to work."

"I don't have time, I told you. The christening is two days away and eighty of you fuckers are coming to town, the schools opening and I've got three more teachers to find and the fucking press to placate. Oh, did I mention I have a family I would quite like to see at some point?" I whined but knew it was no good.

"I can only spare three days." Eleazar announced. "It's now or never."

I looked into his head to see why he only had three days to spare but found him reciting the recipe for martinis in his head. He was hiding something, just for something different. I was about to challenge him about it when I thought better of it. Better to have the fucking traitorous bastard close at hand where I could watch, and listen to him.

"Fine." I huffed. They did their best to suppress their pleasure at my annoyance. I reached for the intercom on the desk. "Linda, get my mother on the phone please. Ask Felicity to call me in the conference room and get Gavin Mercer on the phone again. There are two folders on my desk, Robert Rush and David Piper, bring them in." I barked into it.

"Yes of course Mr Cullen, right away." She simpered.

"Dude, you gotta do something about that." Peter sniggered, nodding towards the door. _'She's fucking trouble with a capital T. Bella's worth a hundred of her, go carefully.' _He thought.

I nodded. "I know." I knew what she was. But for now I needed her. Once the school was up and running she'd be gone, until then she stayed and I kept her on a tight leash, and away from my wife.

Liam pulled a notepad from under his jacket and clicked a pen in readiness to take notes, or read me his notes, which ever happened first.

Randall pulled a tattered page from his jeans pocket and smoothed it out on the table top.

Dieter pulled out his iPhone and began pressing buttons.

Carlisle steepled his hands under his chin and smiled at me.

I ignored Eleazar.

The intercom buzzed. "Hey boss, what can I do?" Felicity asked happily.

"Her we like." Randall whispered.

I waved a hand at him and scowled. "I'll need you to arrange for a meeting with Robert Rush as soon as possible, but for now I need him on the phone. Also, my mother will be arriving shortly. Can you set her up with an office and whatever else she asks for please?" I asked.

"Sure, no problems. There's a spare office down here with me, that suit you?" She asked.

"Perfect. Send her up when she's ready." I pushed the button and ended the conversation.

"I really like that one." Dieter agreed. "Who is Robert Rush?" He asked.

I smirked. They might have cornered me but I had been plotting on my own. "He's a brilliant if easily scared lawyer and I'm going to convince him to keep our secret by threatening him." I said smoothly.

Carlisle cringed. He hated it when I scared people into doing my bidding. He didn't have an alternative to it, he just didn't like it when we had to. "Try and convince Nessa or Angel to become a lawyer will you." He muttered.

I smiled. "That's not a bad idea." I laughed, but I had a trick or two up my sleeve on that score. The intercom buzzed again then. "Yes Linda."

"I have Gavin Mercer on line one for you and your mother on line two. Who do you want first Mr Cullen?" She asked.

"Esme first, keep Gavin amused, I'll be quick." I told her then pushed the button for line two. "Hello mother." I said belligerently.

"Hello dear, I wondered when I'd be hearing from you. I'm leaving now, see you soon sweetheart." She hung up without another word and I groaned.

"Oh how cute, mommy calls him sweetheart." Peter gushed. Liam chuckled.

"Bastards." I whispered again. I clicked the button for line one. "Gavin, Edward Cullen here."

"Hello Edward. Before you ask no, you cannot change the name of the school. The registration is complete, I have received your payment, the name has been entered with the department and I can't get it back out." He whined.

"Gavin we've spoken about this before. I'm more than happy to pay any fine or penalty your department cares to name, hell I'll contribute to any charity you want and I'll let your kids come to the school for free, but you have to get that name off those books." I hissed.

Carlisle sniggered and Randall rolled his eyes at me. I mouthed 'shut the fuck up' at him but he ignored me.

"I'm sorry Edward, I can't do anything about it. Your wife named it, I registered it, it's a done deal, sorry." Gavin said calmly.

"Fine. Thanks." I hung up and shook my head.

"How often do you badger that poor man Edward?" Carlisle asked.

"Every day." I mumbled as they all laughed.

Linda knocked on the door then. I called her inside. She put a stack of paperwork in front of me including the two files I'd asked for. Nobody missed the way she stood beside me, breasts thrust forward, her hand lying across the back of my chair. It was far too intimate. "This is from Felicity. Mr Rush will see you on Monday at 11, this is the address." She put a post-it note on the top folder. "He has asked you to call him in half an hour; he's finishing up with a client."

She put another post-it note on the table and waited for further instructions. She was staring directly at me, hoping the other men in the room were admiring her attention to detail and the way she'd pushed her breasts upwards before coming into the room. I cringed. "Thank you Miz Collins. After my mother has joined us I don't want to be disturbed, no calls, and no visitors." I told her.

"Of course. Can I do anything else for you, or your guests, Mr Cullen?" She whispered coyly, stooping down to put a hand on my sleeve.

"No." I said firmly, pulling my arm away.

She was disappointed I didn't ask her to do anything more personal for me. It would've shown the other men that we were close, that I thought highly of her, had I asked her to do something more personal for me than giving her work related instructions. She had to go. If she behaved like this in front of Esme or Bella there would be real trouble.

She backed out of the room and went back to her desk.

"She has to go." Carlisle and I said in unison.

**Romania**

Dominique no longer tried to hide from Daria as she walked down the steep hill to Deva. He didn't exactly walk beside her, but neither did he trail her at a distance. Twice, once on each of her last trips, she'd turned over her shoulder and asked his opinion on something. He never gave it, of course. He needed to continue with the pretence that he was there as her silent, and supposedly invisible, guard. But when she turned away from him he smiled to himself. It wasn't a hardship for Dominique to be on 'Daria duty'.

She began to leave the castle earlier, in the mid afternoon, giving her more time to explore the town before dark descended and her body began to crave sleep.

Unlike her brother she tired easily and needed her bed for hours at a time. A lifetime of idle pursuits inside the castle hadn't prepared her for her excursions into the human world. She began to delve further into the culture of her town, she ducked into shops and markets and found a whole new world to explore.

She never bought anything but she loved each and every sight and smell the town presented her with. The shouting of the street vendors became a sort of anthem for her excursions. She followed the same path each time, down the cobbled road from the castle, crossed over the main road and followed the crowds up towards the market and ultimately the emperor on his plinth. She discovered the public gardens behind the statue and took to spending hours there, lounging on a bench and watching the humans who passed by.

At four o'clock children would stream through the park on their way home from school. They skipped and laughed and threw stones and bark at the emperor on their way past. Nothing would mar his bronze skin though.

Small groups of women waited on the other side of the gardens for their children. They stood and gossiped as they waited. They talked about their day, who was seen doing what in their area and about what food they were planning to feed their families that night. Daria learnt a lot sitting on that park bench of an afternoon. She learnt that Enzo, the butcher on Strada Zorilor, gave Sarah a discount if she wore three buttons undone on her blouse. She learnt that Alison was having an affair with Marco and that his wife was unaware. She learned that Mrs Cheaveux – whoever she was – had been taken to the hospital, the Centru Privat De Medicina Dentara, at three o'clock in the morning after having had a heart attack. She knew that the children went in to school at eight thirty in the morning and came out at four. She knew that whilst the women missed the children during the day they were grateful to have time to themselves while school was in. They were all dreading the holidays.

Daria had never been to school, nor did she know what a real holiday was like.

Businessmen in their suits, briefcases tucked under their arms, used the gardens as a short cut to get from the northern business district to the residential part of the town to the south. Hundreds of them walked through the park at dusk, each hurrying to get home to their wives and families before the coldness of night descended.

When the sun went down the sights and smells in the garden changed. The street cafes would throw open their doors and tourists and locals alike would spill out onto the sidewalks to eat and visit with friends, sending the scent of spicy meat and strong coffee wafting through the garden and into Daria's nose.

Dominique lounged against the brickwork of an adjacent building or took a bench opposite where Daria sat. She watched him frequently from the corner of her eye, and he watched her quite openly and intently, but they didn't speak until it was quite late and time for Daria to return to the castle. Then she would stride to where he stood or sat, hand him a crumpled bank note and offer her hand to him, asking him to take her home.

He would stand and bow shallowly to her and lead her to a nearby taxi rank. They rode to the castle gates in silence, their hands tightly clasped in Daria's lap during the short journey.

When the taxi stopped Dom always exited first then came to her door. He would open it, she would stand from the vehicle. He ushered her inside the gates and walked with her to the corridor outside her personal rooms.

She thanked him for his assistance that day, he bowed more deeply than he would have in public and turned and left once she was safely inside her chamber.

Daria would wash and change and then sneak down to the kitchens to steal her evening meal.

Dominique would watch from the servant's hallway as she ran back up to her rooms, arms laden with bread and cheese and a pitcher of fresh milk.

The third time he watched her do this he followed her back upstairs. He gave her enough time to set her provisions down and then he knocked lightly at her door. He smiled when she cursed softly in English. He waited patiently while she tried to hide her ill gotten gains and straightened his tunic as she opened the door.

He bowed, deeply and respectfully. "If it pleases, tomorrow, in the town, we will eat." He bowed again and then rose to meet her eyes.

She looked embarrassed and guilty and he was sorry for it. And then she smiled and all his worries faded. "We will eat." She nodded and retreated back into her rooms.

Daria pulled a chunk of the bread off the loaf and pressed it to her lips. Tomorrow, in _her_ town she would _eat, _with Dom. She'd never felt more human.

She'd smelled Raul lurking on the stairs but didn't care. If he wanted to prevent her from going into the town he could have before now. If he took issue with her and Dom sharing a meal she was sure he'd make it known to her privately, well before she left on her walk the next day.

She slid into the chair and poured herself a glass of milk. It had now been sixty four days since she had last tasted human blood.

Raul crept back down the stairs and went back to his study. He could have Dominique whipped for defying his instructions. He had the power to have him killed if he so wished, and yet he didn't wish that at all. It was obvious that Dominique was very respectful of his sister and so no fault could be found in that. It was true that Raul had ordered his security chief to remain invisible to Daria, but Raul did not know the circumstances that had led Daria to realize Dom's presence, so could not punish the man without finding out. Raul found himself not wanting to find out.

Instead he began to think about what it would mean if Daria had found a human confidante. Would she leave the castle? Would he ever see her again? Would she go and live amongst the humans? Could she? And what would it mean for the human Dominique?

It had been four months since Raul had withdrawn from social activities in the castle and as he thought about the possibilities for his sister's future he began to wonder what his own future might hold. Should he be searching for a mate for himself? A companion at least, someone to share his burden and to talk to about his worries and fears. Did he need someone to share with or would he merely be forcing his burden onto another?

These questions swirled around inside his head as he sat in front of his ledgers. He hoped Eleazar could answer some of them for him.

**Esme POV**

Felicity showed me my new office and helped me put the few things I'd asked to be provided away in the drawers and on the shelves. I wouldn't need much. A laptop, printer and some stationery. She gave me a quick lesson on how to use the various features of the telephone system and then she showed me upstairs and transferred my care to Linda.

"Hello Mrs Cullen." Linda always spoke carefully to me, and I knew why.

I was a threat to her. Just as Bella was. I didn't need to be able to read minds to know that the way she looked at Edward was predatory. I didn't need Alice' precognition to know that, if left to her own devices, she would attempt to drive a wedge between my son and daughter. I had no doubt that she believed she could do it too. She had, of course, completely underestimated both the Cullen women and the devotion the Cullen men had for those women. She had to go.

"Hello Miz Collins," I said the 'Miz' with as much hidden distain as I dared, "Edward is expecting me." I told her flatly.

She stood from behind her desk and raised her eyebrows minutely. No human would've seen the gesture, I did. She smiled wanly and asked me to please follow her. She knocked on the conference room door and when Edward called for us to come in I went in through the door and held it with one hand while addressing the girl square on. "We won't want to be disturbed dear." And with that I shut the door.

Carlisle was doing his best to hide his smile and his laughter but Randall wasn't even bothering to try. I kissed Edward on the top of his head as I passed by him. I kissed Carlisle's cheek and made my way to the far end of the table. I sat, took out a pen and a large note book and readied myself to take notes of the meeting.

I looked to Edward. He was scowling. "Hello mother." He said dryly.

"Hello, dear." I said sweetly. I tilted my pen towards the door, "She has to go, dear." I told him firmly. "Shall we begin?" I asked, not waiting for his response.

Randall laughed again and Edward growled lightly.

Edward pointed to my notepad and I readied my pen. "I'm about to call a lawyer in Seattle named Robert Rush. He's a merciless bastard, and that's describing him politely. He's a corporate lawyer of some renown and I think I will be able to convince him to represent us in all things relating to our real estate needs." He told me, and the assembled men.

They were all nodding so I guessed they had convinced Edward to start work on the council and its business and now they'd moved on to how to make it all a reality. I wrote the lawyers name down. I'd be dealing with him a lot I assumed. Edward slid a fat file down the table towards me. I opened it and began to read about Mr Rush. I raised my eyebrows at Edward and he grinned.

He could be just as ruthless as any human lawyer could be and I wondered, not for the first time, if he'd learnt his leadership and organisational skills from having lived almost his whole adult life with Carlisle, or whether he'd been born this way.

"A bit of both." Edward chuckled at my random thought.

The others ignored the out of place comment. They were mostly used to Edward's silent meanderings through our thoughts.

"Are you sure he's the right man for the job?" Peter asked what I was thinking.

"No, he's not. I'd much rather a vampire for a lawyer, and I think I've found one, but for what we need in the real estate market right now he'll do." Edward grinned.

The others gasped in shock.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading. This one is a few days late, forgive me, I've been away to scrapbooking camp for a few days. (For the first time ever I didn't take my laptop and didn't write a single word for three days!) I missed it so much I woke at 3am this morning to write down notes! **

**Please review, it's all I ask. **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7 – Year One – Trials and Errors

**BPOV**

Nessa had been asleep for two hours by the time Edward came home. He had a huge pile of paperwork with him and a look on his face only his mother could love. I had no doubt that his meeting with the councillors would've been agonising for them and for him, but I thought I could guess why he had brought the scowl home with him.

I stood in the doorway to the study with a single sheet of white paper in my hand. He knew what it was and I knew he knew. I held it between my fingertips and when he came to me he dropped his folders at his feet and took it from me. He kissed me firmly on the lips and then again at the juncture between my neck and shoulder before he inhaled my hair. I felt him shiver a little and suck in a deep breath. "I missed you Isabella." He whispered darkly.

I stood stock still, not wanting to provoke him and start an argument. He'd used my full name so I knew he wasn't playing games. I'd taken a risk keeping the letter from him, I was about to find out what the consequences of that were going to be. "I missed you too Edward." I replied quietly.

He stood right in front of me, squarely, his hips only two inches from my body, his lips poised at my neck just below my ear. I could feel his breath as he exhaled, long and slow against my skin. I wanted to wrap myself around him and beg him to have me, but was in no position to bargain with him.

The crinkle of the page startled me and I flinched as he stepped away and held the page aloft. He scanned it and pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. He looked angry and hurt and about ready to burst. "I had some visitors today." He said quietly as he read.

I didn't know where this was headed but was quite willing to follow his lead if it meant not having to explain the letter. "Me too. Charlotte, Carmen, Kate and Siobhan all said to tell you hello." I said politely.

"I'll bet they did." He said. He turned the page over and kept reading it. "Randall, Liam, Peter, Dieter and Eleazar paid me a visit at the school. Most informative it was, too." He said, never taking his eyes off the page.

I shifted my weight onto my other foot nervously. I didn't need to shift my weight, I could stand still for days on end without feeling the need to move, but my anxiousness betrayed me and I moved. He licked his bottom lip and it made him look even more sinister than he already did. "That's nice. Did you all play nicely?" I asked with a little nervous laugh at the end.

He stared at me over the top of the page. His eyes were pitch black and the purple bruises under his eyes were deep and dark. He was either really thirsty or really pissed off. I didn't want to guess which. "I did play nicely, yes. Even though it was an ambush." He put his free hand on the doorframe beside my head and I flinched as he moved. He grinned when I did. "But you already knew about it, didn't you Isabella?" He asked, moving his face a little closer to mine.

I put my tongue to the back of my teeth and thought about the answer. Was there any point lying about it? It could do no harm to have him know the truth now. "Yes." I whispered. I took a little half step back into the study but he followed.

He kept his free hand on the doorframe and put the hand that held the letter in it on the other side of my head on the other side of the door. Now he was blocking my exit and I began to get a little worried. Venom pooled on my tongue and I swallowed it down quickly, hoping he wouldn't smell it. He grinned smugly, he'd smelled it.

"You knew they were going to the school but you didn't call me to let me know and you didn't tell me you'd received a letter from them recently either." It wasn't a question but I knew he wanted an answer.

I took another step backwards and put my hands behind me, searching for the back of the visitor's chair. When I found it I stepped back against it. I put both hands behind my back and clutched the leather between my fingers to stop myself from trembling.

"No, I didn't. I thought you'd be angry." I told him honestly.

He laughed then, but not the carefree laugh he usually had. This was sinister and dark and it scared me a little. He took one hand off the doorframe and took another step into the room. He clenched his fist beside his body and glared at me. "You thought I'd be angry?" He barked, a little louder than his laugh had been. "You hid this from me?" He asked as he waved the letter in my face. I nodded. "Because you thought I'd be angry?" He asked and I nodded again. "Full marks for perception Isabella." He hissed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hide it, there just never seemed a good time to tell you it had arrived. And then the others got theirs and none of them said anything to you about it and then after a while I didn't hear anymore so I figured it never went anywhere." I was babbling, the words just fell from my lips without thinking about them.

He reread the letter once more then threw it onto the desk over my shoulder. "Which one of them did you vote for?" He hissed.

Oh crap. There were ten names on that letter, most of them Edward didn't want on the council. I had no way to know if he already knew who I'd voted for. "I voted for you." I hedged.

"I stood unopposed, despite not being given a choice to stand, so your answer is pointless. Try again. Who did you vote to put on the board?" He snarled.

I was really frightened now. I'd never seen him this angry before. Not even when he was going to kill Eleazar in the living room at the big house was he this cold, this silently threatening.

Jasper had talked to me about this sort of thing. We couldn't hurt each other physically so that often left only one or two options open to our kind. Emotional torment or intimidation. I was beginning to see that Edward had learnt his lessons well.

I pushed the chair that I was leaning on towards the desk and opened up the space between us a little more. I fought the urge to crouch but couldn't deny it totally. My knees bent slightly and my shoulders rounded over, prepared to spring should I need to. "I voted for Randall." I told him in a whisper.

"Randall?" He asked. His eyebrows shot up and he stared me down. It was good, but not quite convincing enough. I knew him so well, he was lying. He'd known all along who I voted for. "Why Randall?" He asked.

I slipped a fraction further into my crouch and took a deep breath. He couldn't hurt me, but he was scaring the shit out of me. I didn't want him in a rage with Nessa in the house and no Seth to comfort her or get her away safely. I had to answer his questions or he'd snap. "I chose him because he was so good when we were planning the fight." I told him honestly.

"More." He hissed. "Tell me why him."

I looked over his shoulder through the open door. I guessed I was probably equally distant from the door and the window behind me. It would be easier to go through the window and dodge Edward than it would to have to shove him aside and go through the door. Besides, if I got through the door I'd still have to navigate the hallway, he'd catch me long before I got to the front door. So it had to be the window. It was open and I could get through it fast. I didn't want to leave Nessa here without me, but he'd never hurt her, plus, if I ran he wouldn't follow, not if it meant leaving her all alone. "I don't know. Probably because you hate Eleazar and I think Liam's too soft." I told him.

"Not good enough. There were ten on the list, why Randall Isabella?" He snarled.

"Why does it matter now? They're all voted in, it wasn't just me who had to vote, I could only vote for one of them so I voted for who I thought would be best, that's all." I was sick of this now. It was going nowhere, he wasn't going to pounce and I wasn't going to admit I was scared of him. There was nowhere to go but around and around. He was hissing softly and I'd have to tell him if I wanted this to stop. "I don't know Dieter well enough to vote for him alright? Benjamin would just frighten the others and they'd side with him through fear, even though he'd never hurt a fly they'd think he could and would. Furkan for the same reasons, he scares me and I know he scares the others too. Maggie would just get overridden by all the men and I knew Jaz didn't want to do it. There, that's all of them. So I chose Randall." I shouted.

It was supposed to have been a secret ballot; nobody was supposed to know who anyone else voted for. Had I known it wasn't going to be kept a secret I wouldn't have voted at all.

"That's nine." He snarled.

"I can fucking count." I hissed back. I was getting angry now. This wasn't fair of him and while I might not want to fight him, I would. I brought my hands to my sides and flexed my fists.

He looked down at them for a split second and flinched. "Why did you beg them to take your name off the list? Do you not believe in this council?" He asked quietly.

Ahh, that's what this was about. A little touch of jealousy that I'd voted for Randall and a little touch of self doubt thrown in. "I _asked_ them to take my name off the list because I'm too young for the responsibility and I have enough on my plate being Nessa's mother, your wife, a teacher and a new vampire. They understood and removed my name from the second round of voting."

"Fine. Why Randall?" He asked again. He advanced a tiny bit and I cringed away.

"He's going to marry Kate." I told him, hoping that would finally put an end to his silly jealousy.

"I know. Why did you vote for him?" He asked again as though his impending marriage didn't matter.

I sighed. I swallowed the venom in my mouth again and stretched up to my full height. I was going to tell him why and then I was going to run.

"He was the logical choice." I sighed and craned my neck. "He's intensely loyal to you, he never once questioned our decisions when it became clear we were going to have to fight, and your cousins trust him. The whole council was partly his idea so I know he's passionate about it working." I blurted out too fast. "But most of all he'd follow you to the ends of the earth. I believe in this council even though I don't know anything about being a vampire yet and I believe in you, but it's dangerous. For you. It's dangerous Edward. Being the head of this thing is going to be dangerous for you and Randall would fight for you, he'd stand beside you and fight with you. I have no doubt that he respects and admires you so much that he'd die in your stead. So _that's _why I voted for him, Edward. To make you safer."

I didn't wait for his reply. I vaulted over the back of the chair in a perfect back flip that would've made Jasper happy and then I slipped through the open window and out into the forest. I headed to Rosie's.

**EPOV**

I had silently seethed all afternoon and on into the evening. The longer the meeting went the angrier I got at Bella. My run home only fuelled my already simmering rage. With time on my hands and a nice long run alone I had gotten myself worked up to the point of exploding by the time I reached the cottage. I expected the men to ambush me at some point. I'd been prepared for _that_, what I hadn't been prepared for was Bella's involvement in the trap they'd set for me. She'd been party to their planning, played a part in their selection process – she'd actually been nominated herself! And I'd known nothing about it.

And now that I'd finally confronted her about it I felt impossibly worse. I knew I was scaring her even as I did it. I knew I was frightening her by speaking the way I was, by hovering over her I knew she was cringing away from me in fright, and yet still I advanced.

And then she'd fled.

She was gone from the room in the blink of an eye. I couldn't read the intention from her and she'd moved so stealthily I had no chance to stop her. One second she was there, next she was gone.

It was an impressive move and it left me wondering, had the window been closed, would she have leapt through it anyway? My guess was yes.

I didn't want to leave Nessa alone in the cottage but Bella was not going to run from me right now. If I caught her fast enough I'd still be in range to hear Nessa should she wake. I threw the doors open at the rear of our bedroom and leapt the low stone wall in the courtyard. I had no trouble following her. She'd either go to the big house or to Rose and Em's. From her scent she was heading west, to Rosie's.

Now that her newborn strength had subsided I caught up to her easily. She knew I was behind her because she ducked and weaved as she ran, hoping to avoid being thrown to the ground by me. No such luck for her.

I waited another stride, then another, and when she had recovered from her fake left I jumped. I landed on her back and we both fell forwards onto the ground. As predicted she came up swinging. She threw me off her and I hit the base of a tree with a loud thwack. She was on her feet and into her crouch within a heartbeat. Luckily mine didn't beat, or I'd be dead right about now with the force she'd used to get me off her.

A low growl rose in her throat and her lips were moist with her venom. She was magnificent. "What the fuck are you doing?" She hissed.

I slipped into my own crouch and faced her, venom flying from my lips. "YOU FUCKING RAN AWAY!" I screamed at her.

She blinked hard and rocked forward on her heels, ready to pounce. "You fucking left Nessa alone!" She screamed at me.

I craned my neck and she cringed when the bones popped and creaked. "You fucking ran away from me." I countered.

"You fucking scared me." She retorted. Her fists were clenching and unclenching at her sides and her eyes were wild. She was ready to fight.

"You fucking pissed me off." I shouted in response.

I watched her square her shoulders and readied myself for her lunge. She caught me right around the middle, just as Jasper would've taught her. I dug my heels into the soft ground as she pushed me backwards towards the trees. I let out a loud 'oof' sound as my back hit the same tree she'd thrown me into before. This time it cracked at its base and fell to the ground with an equally loud thud.

I used the palms of my hands to push her shoulders away from me and as she was straightening up for another lunge I stepped to my left and set myself at the ready.

This time when she came at me I would be prepared. I clenched my stomach muscles, this time when she collected me I'd stand up into the force and she'd be flung backwards herself.

It didn't quite happen that way.

She came at me alright, but she didn't go for my gut and she didn't try to swipe my feet out from under me. Instead, as she approached me, she leapt and as she came down over me she reached for my throat. She had me on my back, on the ground, at her mercy, in a tenth of a second.

Her eyes were as black as coal and her venom was flowing freely from her parted lips. She had fury written all over her face and I was, for the first time in a hundred years, truly frightened of another vampire.

When she brought her free hand around in front of her I prepared for her to put it across my chin, just as I'd done to others so many times. Instead she cupped my cheek with her soft fingers. She licked her bottom lip. "Yeah, well, you fucking pissed me off too." She whispered right in my face.

Then she let me go. I lay there shocked for a good five minutes. She could've easily ended me. She looked as though she wanted to. Hell, I'd seen her actually do it to Jane and knew she was more than capable. I closed my eyes and listened to her breathing. Long, slow cleansing breaths. She didn't need the oxygen but I knew that Jasper would've taught her how to settle herself after a fight and she'd be following his instructions out of habit. I too dragged in gulps of cleansing air. I realised I was panting heavily and was embarrassed to admit to myself that it was borne of fear, not exertion.

She'd bested me. Jasper's first rule of combat was to never underestimate your opponent and I'd failed the very first lesson.

She'd scared me. I'd scared her. I wondered if we were even now?

"It's not nice, is it?" She asked. She was hovering over me and I wondered how long she'd been there. I'd been so lost in my thoughts. She offered me her hand and I took it gingerly. She helped me to my feet and then she walked a few paces away, backing up to a tree and leaning against it.

I straightened my shirt and dusted off my jeans. I ran a hand through my hair and thought about her question. "No, it's not." I agreed.

"Were you scared of me just now?" She asked in a hoarse whisper.

I took one small step towards her and her eyes flashed me a warning. I held my hands up in surrender and stayed where I was. "Yes." I admitted. "Were you scared of me in the house?" I asked.

She nodded violently. "Yes." She whispered.

"I'm sorry." I told her. "I was just so angry. You kept it from me. You got the letter and I never knew and you kept it from me. Do you have any idea how that made me feel today? When I learned about it from _them?" _Ihissed.

She growled then, low and long. I stiffened as she pushed herself off the tree trunk and advanced on me again. She didn't come quite so close this time, but she was close enough that I could see the hurt in her eyes and the see the quiver in her lip. "Oh yes Edward. I know exactly how it feels to be kept in the dark. You got phone call after phone call, letters and texts and telegrams and you all kept them from me. So yes, I do have some idea how it feels to be left out of the loop Edward." She came a little closer and lifted her hand to my face. She cupped her hand and held my jaw in it. I sighed. Even angry I wanted her. She'd calmed considerably but I was still raging inside. "But that's not why I kept it from you. It wasn't out of revenge Edward. I knew you'd be angry but I wanted you to head the council so badly, you need to do this. I thought if you knew that they were holding elections and asking for volunteers you'd work doubly hard to thwart their efforts. It would've given you time to work out how to stop it all if I told you when the letter came. I knew if you had a head start you'd find a way to prevent the council from forming. It might have been poor judgement on my behalf, but I'd do it again if it means you've accepted the job." She closed her eyes as I turned my face further into her palm.

I kissed it softly, allowing my tongue to sneak out and taste her skin fleetingly. She shivered. "I've accepted the position." I whispered.

She smiled. And it was breathtakingly beautiful. "Can you forgive me?" She asked softly, moving in towards me and pressing herself up against my chest.

A flush of warmth spread through me then. "Of course." I turned into her palm once again and kissed it softly a second time. Then I turned my eyes back to hers. "Can you forgive me?" I asked.

She closed her eyes and then sighed. "Of course."

I closed the distance fully. I captured her swollen bottom lip between my teeth and tugged her mouth open before I plunged my tongue in to meet hers. She groaned as I pulled her body up to meet mine and held her tightly. "Do you love me Isabella?" I asked as I dragged my lips away from her mouth and trailed kisses across her cheek and into her ear.

She groaned, pushed herself harder up against me. "I do, so very much. Tell me you still love me Edward." She growled.

I licked the shell of her ear and waited for her to shiver.

_There._

"I love you more than I could ever imagine. More and more each day." I kissed just below her ear and waited for the clench of her fingers at the nape of my neck.

_There._

"Nessa." She whispered and I knew she was asking if we should go home to do this.

"I can read her from here. She doesn't shield when she's asleep." I rasped into her ear. "Besides, if you let me make love to you out here we don't need to be so quiet." I told her and waited for her to groan.

_There._

"Yes, take me here." She growled into my mouth as she put her hands to either side of my face and pulled my mouth to hers roughly.

Our residual anger made the kiss a tug of wills. She fought hard for supremacy but I was stronger. I wound my arms around her and pulled her to the ground, on top of me. I let her have her head when we were on the ground and she rose up to straddle me, throwing her head back as she pushed herself down onto my straining erection.

I slit her top from collar to hem with my fingernail and then peeled it off her shoulders. Her bare breasts, so pale and perfect, bobbed as she writhed against me.

She didn't hesitate to do the same to me. With half closed eyes she slid her fingernail down the placket of my button down, slicing it open as if it was made of tissue paper. She licked her bottom lip as she pushed the two sides apart and then ran her fingers over my abs. Pushing herself further down my thighs she lowered her mouth to my nipple and bit down, hard.

"Ahh." I yelled in pleasure as her teeth found purchase on my other nipple. I put my fingers into her hair then and held her mouth to my flesh. "Bite me Bella." I urged her. A guttural grunt escaped her throat as she left one nipple and latched onto the other. Her venom stung as she raked her teeth over my sensitive flesh. "Harder." I urged her. "Bite me harder baby."

She arched her back then, hissed across my peaked nipple and sunk her teeth into me. I bucked my hips up into her and moaned my pleasure. With it between her teeth she looked up into my eyes. Hers were as black as night and I knew mine would match them.

I'd not hunted for two weeks and she'd gone ten days, but the hunger I felt now had nothing to do with blood.

"Let me taste you." I rasped.

She groaned and let my nipple go. I wanted her tattoo in my mouth, I wanted to feel the raised lettering swell on my tongue. She had other ideas.

She jumped off me and I growled at the loss of her touch. She tore her jeans from her body and flung them into the trees. Her panties were gone in a split second and then I was assaulted by the flavour of her arousal. I closed my eyes and let it cover me. My cock was so hard beneath my jeans I thought it would burst through the zipper on its own if I didn't free it. I yanked them free of my legs and let them join her ruined panties in the forest. My boxers were shredded in a heartbeat and then I was totally naked and exposed, lying on the forest floor with my bare wife's flesh hovering above me. She stood across my waist and ran a hand through her hair. Her scent floored me and I sucked it down hungrily. "Let me taste you." I begged.

She smiled then. A confident, predatory smile. "That word has many applications." She grinned. I had no time to wonder what she meant because she lowered her sex onto my mouth. With her knees on either side of my head she hovered above me. "Taste me Edward."

I spared a half second to moan my appreciation of her application of the word and then I spread my hands across her waist and pulled her down onto my tongue and lips.

**BPOV**

Angry sex was un-fucking-believable.

His soft tongue lapped at me over and over until I was screaming for release above him. He never faltered from the rhythm he'd set, never let up until I was a quivering, quaking mess on his mouth.

That first orgasm was so intense, so filled with raw desire that it shook me to my very core. I was gasping and panting and writhing above him unashamedly. At first it was as though I was punishing him for scaring me, making him lick and suck me endlessly until I decided I'd had enough. But by the time the third orgasm overtook me I'd let go of the anger and was just hungry for more of his body.

When the ripples of climax subsided I slid myself down off his lips and sat on his waist once again. The head of his cock was right there. If I slid back half an inch he'd be inside me and our connection would be made. I looked down into his beautiful honey gold eyes and smiled. "Don't ever stand over me again Edward." I warned him.

"I swear it." He choked out. He slid his hands over my breasts, down my ribs and onto my hipbones. He lifted me easily and with one hard shove he was inside me. '_Oh fuck...oh fuck...oh fuck...Bella...baby...' _

Inside our private connection we could say and do whatever we pleased, we could be as loving or as feral as we wanted, never having to express it openly or worry that we'd be overheard. This was where we were vampires. When Edward was inside me our animal nature could come to the fore.

He set a steady, if somewhat slower pace than I'd wanted. But as my climax approached he sped on into a frenzy. He lifted me off him and pushed me onto him so hard each thrust took me closer to my goal. With each shove he pressed onto that special spot inside me and I cried out both audibly and inside our connection for him to never stop.

'_Cum for me Bella...I love you baby...cum for me...cum for me...' _He begged silently, his eyes pressed shut tight as he concentrated on his stroke.

'I love you Edward...I love you baby...keep going...make me cum baby...don't stop, god don't stop...yes, yes...' I told him as I rode him.

He went faster still, deeper still and I felt it begin in my gut. I threw my head back and arched as far as I could go to take him as deeply as possible and then I let my muscles relax as the clawing sensations took me.

I screamed into the air as I came but he still pushed higher, deeper as it shook me.

'_Yes baby...that's it...give it to me...mine, you're mine...it's mine...give it to me Bella...' _He stormed in his mind as I came on top of him.

I dug my heels into his thighs and braced myself against his chest with my hands. I leaned back and let him go as deep as he could, knowing my offering myself as I was, coupled with my thoughts, would force his release. 'All yours Edward...only ever yours baby...only yours...' I trailed off.

He opened his eyes then. He drew his bottom lip into his mouth and with one last thrust he spilled inside me. '_Mine...mine...mine...mine.'_ He chanted as he released into me over and over.

I pushed forward and lowered myself onto his chest. With my lips to his ear I whispered that I loved him and waited for his breathing to calm. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly while he rode the last of his climax.

"I love you too, Isabella. Mine." He growled into my hair.

"Mine." I agreed into his throat.

**Romania**

Daria sat opposite Dom in a tiny hidden cafe in a Deva backstreet and sipped her first ever cup of coffee.

She felt conspicuous amongst the young men and women, but Dom had kept his hand to the small of her back as they'd navigated the streets and then again as they moved between the tables to reach their sheltered booth at the back.

The bitterness coupled with the sweetness of the added sugar made her squint as the first drops of the coffee caressed her inexperienced palate. Dom smiled as she sipped again and again, a slow smile gently spreading across her ruby lips.

"Can you tell me about it?" He asked gently, startling her from her concentration on the coffee.

Dom didn't speak often. In the two months since she'd been walking to town they'd shared perhaps a hundred words between them. Apart from Dom asking her if she would eat with him he'd never uttered a word that wasn't tangled up in her safety or travel needs.

"It's very hot." Daria said shyly. She tapped her middle finger to her bottom lip and searched for the right way to describe the drink. "Very strong, bitter but sweet too." She whispered.

He smiled a little. "Do you like it?" He asked her.

She echoed his smile. "Very much." She nodded.

He tilted his head in acknowledgement and took up his own cup.

Spread on the table between them was an assortment of foods. Two small bowls of pale soup each with a chunk of crusty bread on the side of the bowl. A pair of small dishes held a fragrant yellow rice dish with steaming hot vegetables strewn across its top. A glass saucer held two small pastries oozing with warmed cream cheese and a thick, glossy syrup.

Dom pushed the soup bowl towards Daria and motioned with his hand that she should do as he did. He tore off a piece of the bread and dipped it into the soup before putting it into his mouth. Daria sniffed the soup and then did the same. The flavour burst in her mouth making her squeak in pleasure. Chicken, beans and parsley, all things she'd never heard of, let alone tasted, settled on her palate and made her sigh in delight as she devoured the entire bowl.

She wanted more and said so, making Dom smile so widely she had to force herself not to reach across and run a thumb across his lips. "It's so good." She whispered, nodding to the empty bowl in front of her.

"Zama soup." He said quietly. He nudged the plate of rice and vegetables with his finger. "Pilaf, is good too." He nodded.

Daria watched him take a few small pieces of each vegetable onto his spoon and then scoop rice onto it with his fork. She watched him chew before she followed his lead and did the same.

The vegetables were coated in a thick braising stock and she closed her eyes and sighed in contentment as the flavours mixed and melded in her mouth. They were small dishes, a sampler of sorts, and she was soon scooping the last vestiges of the rice from her plate, looking predatorily at his. He grinned when he noticed her watching his last few spoonfuls disappear into his mouth.

A man of few words Daria clung to every syllable he gave her. She waited patiently for him to ask what she thought of the dish and tried hard to think of something intelligent to say in response.

"Different, yes?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Hot on my tongue." She didn't know what spices were but he knew that she was describing the saffron and paprika that laced the rice. It was a good description for someone who'd never eaten it before. "Very soft. Vegetables, yes?" She asked carefully.

He nodded. "Vegetables. Grown on your land." He nodded over her shoulder in the direction that the castle sat.

Her eyes widened in realization. The things grown on the farms were sold in the town. The humans lived off them. She'd never bothered to know what they did with the strange shaped things they pulled from the earth before.

"Very good." She told him and he smiled again.

"Good. Now this." He pulled the glass plate towards her and motioned for her to take a pastry from it. He waved his hand above his head and a waitress brought them fresh coffee. When the waitress was once again behind her counter he tore his pastry in half and took a small bite.

Daria watched him intently. She loved the way his jaw flexed with each movement, the way his eyes closed ever so briefly when the food was good. He licked at the syrup on his lips and a small, involuntary moan escaped her lips. He tried his best to ignore it but deep inside he was relieved.

His desire for her was growing and he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to suppress it. If she felt the same it would go easier for him. He was a long way off admitting how he felt about her to anyone other than himself, but his relief that she just might feel something for him, other than as her personal bodyguard, cheered him enormously.

"Now you." He grinned, nodding towards the uneaten pastry in her hand. Dom was finished his by the time she picked hers up, so he was pleased to be able to watch her enjoy it fully.

Daria sniffed it cautiously before bringing it to her lips. The sugary smell assaulted her first. The syrup was sticky and wet as she put it to her lips for the first time. It was sickly sweet and she was about to push it away but Dom shook his head and mimed that she should bite it. She did.

The taste changed immediately. It blossomed from sickly sweet to a pleasant mix of light buttery pastry coupled with the soft creamy tang of the cream cheese. The syrup enhanced the blandness of the pastry and complimented the cheese. It was heavenly and her groans of pleasure told Dom how much she enjoyed it without him having to ask what she thought.

When it was gone she sipped at her coffee and sighed.

When she'd returned her coffee cup back to the tables surface Dom reached across and took her hand into his. His rough calluses were in stark contrast to the pale perfection of hers. She stared down at their joined hands in wonder. He wasn't frightened of her and he didn't flinch when she was near like other humans did.

"Don't eat in your chamber anymore." Dom whispered quietly.

It wasn't a request and Daria nodded her agreement.

"With me in the mornings, in the kitchen, then at night here, with me." He said.

Again she nodded her agreement.

"Good." He announced.

Dominique had no idea what she was. She wasn't quite human, but neither was she what her brother and aunt were. He had no better idea what they were than what Daria was, but suddenly it didn't matter quite so much to him. She was here. She ate with him. She'd eat with him again and she hadn't withdrawn her pale, slender hand from his at the end of his request. Whatever she was it was what he wanted and that was enough for him, for now.

Raul stood at the windows on the north wall and watched as Dominique helped Daria from their shared taxi. His hand stayed at her back as they came through the gate and across the courtyard. Daria was smiling and Dominique looked happy and content to be in her company.

They looked less and less like a royal and her bodyguard and more and more like a couple.

His thoughts turned to the spent corpse that lay on the floor in his chamber. He'd drunk from her then discarded her as though she was garbage, but perhaps he'd been too quickly finished with her?

She'd been no great beauty but she was attractive enough, he thought. She was the daughter of a peasant who worked in an outer field and had been tried and found guilty of theft. She'd been on her way to a larger prison farm when he'd taken her from the line of other prisoners. He hadn't chosen her for anything other than her scent. It had been slightly sweeter than the others in the prisoner group. She'd come willingly, thinking she'd been spared having to go to a bigger, more strict prison.

He'd killed her without thought. Drank every last drop of her delicious blood and then cast aside her useless body.

But now, as he watched his sister disappear into the castles foyer with her new friend he wondered if perhaps he should create a friend for himself. He knew how it was done, he'd watched his father do it on occasion when the guard needed strengthening or a human was brought to him that showed promise. But watching it done and doing it for himself were two very different things.

He dragged the corpse through the castle and out to the crematory at the back of the piggery. The fires burned day and night to dispose of the bones from the abattoir. With no ceremony or thought for the girl he threw her body into the oven and closed the door.

With his sister and aunt safe inside the castle walls for the evening he was free to roam his land. He pulled his cloak around himself tighter and set off in search of a warm body. He'd have to choose carefully. If it worked first time he'd be stuck with the vampire for eternity. If it failed he'd have to be able to explain away a human disappearance from inside his land.

He ran towards the prison farm barracks. The prison population was a volatile mix of angry and violent creatures all housed together in a single building. It bred discontent and paranoia and suspicion reigned supreme amongst the inmates. They often fought amongst themselves, just as newborn vampires would, Raul thought wryly as he pulled the young man from his cot.

Snapping his neck cleanly he tugged him through the opening in the bars he'd created with his bare hands. He laid the boy on the cold ground and rebent the bars to their original shape, barely making a sound as he did.

He scooped the boy up and ran with him back to the castle.

If he was able to change him his neck would be the first thing to heal. If he couldn't, he'd feel nothing of what was about to happen to him anyway.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you've found something of interest in this chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought, I'd love to hear it, both good and bad. **


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8 – Year One – Errors and Trials

**EPOV**

"Have you sorted out your differences then?" Carlisle asked me as the others filtered into the conference room for our second day of meetings.

"She showed me the letter and explained to me why she voted the way she did, yes. The rest is my business." I chuckled.

"Strange noises in the forest last night." He muttered and with a knowing smirk on his face he took his seat opposite me at the long table.

I was pretty pleased that Bella and I had kept our silent means of communication otherwise there would've been a hell of a lot more strange noises in the forest last night, over and above the ones he'd actually heard too.

Liam sat on my left and I had an empty space for Esme to my right. I spread out the various folders and files I had brought with me onto the table in front of me. "I don't want to decide anything until Esme joins us so it can be noted properly, but take a quick look at those."

I tossed a sheaf of papers across the table to Carlisle and I handed another to Dieter at the far end of the table. I slid a page with a photograph stapled to the front of it across to Randall and offered another to Eleazar and Peter to share.

They hummed and mumbled about the photos and when Esme joined us, and was seated, they began to ask their inevitable questions.

"How big is this National Park in Pollino?" Eleazar asked.

"Thousands of hectares, good hunting." I nodded as he made a note on the page.

Dieter leant around Liam, "This is your family home, yes?" He asked.

"It is." I agreed.

"You have discussed this with your mate?" He asked and I nodded. He too made a note on the page.

"Jonathon has seen this one?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes. Three days ago. He took that picture. His report is on the back of that page. It's small and there isn't a forest very close by, but its private and only about twenty minutes from the airport." I clarified before he could ask what he was thinking.

He laughed then and I smirked. "Three days ago, Edward?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes." Was all I said. I never said I wouldn't take the job, I just made them work hard to convince me. I hadn't sat idle while they wrote their stupid letters.

Carlisle was still laughing as he handed his page with its photo across to Randall. "It seems our illustrious leader has been holding out on us."

Randall took the page and whistled. "Sydney eh? Nice spot. I know it well. I have a home in Perth, consider it available." He said.

Esme jotted the details down and added it to our considerable list.

"I'm not sure about the one in New York, Edward." Peter said as he slid the folder back to me. I opened it and stared down at the photograph of the house I'd chosen.

"Why not?" I asked.

"It's not exactly inconspicuous, is it? It's massive and it's in the middle of a nice middle class suburb. They're going to notice us coming and going only at night." He cringed at the thought.

"I considered that and then I ruled it out as a mere nuisance. These aren't homes to live in, they're safe houses. Its true I've chosen a few places close to hunting grounds for those of us who don't partake in humans, but for the most part I've chosen areas that I think we'll need a safe place most." I pulled a page from the bottom of a stack I had in front of me and read from it. "In the last twenty years I've flown into and out of New York sixty two times. When you came for this visit you came via New York, right?" I asked Dieter who nodded that he did. "Exactly my point. If any of us are going to need a safe house anywhere inside the continental US, it's going to be needed most in New York."

"I concede that point." Peter laughed. "Is that why there are two in Seattle and one in Tacoma?" He asked as he turned his page over.

"That's right. The same way we all come and go via New York, with the council based here, there will be a lot of us coming and going through Washington and most of us will come in through Sea-Tac. That, and if we keep multiplying the way we are, and we keep inviting all you freeloaders for parties and christenings, we'd better start buying up property in the area." I chuckled.

"Freeloaders." Muttered Eleazar. "Charming." He laughed.

Carlisle turned to Esme. "Please note that councillor Eleazar has taken umbrage to being called a freeloader." He chortled, making the others laugh too.

I could've called Eleazar a thousand things, freeloader wouldn't have been anywhere near the top of the list.

"Moving on," I said, "Rose and Emmett have agreed to open Angel's home in Maine and Jasper has offered us the use of his family home in Texas. That gives us eleven properties and includes one in south western France that I don't have a picture of as yet, but has been purchased on the council's behalf." I told them. "Now I concede that they aren't perfectly spread out and at some point we'll have to consider the needs of the larger group, but for now can we agree this is a good start?"

They all muttered their agreement and I noticed Carlisle and Esme sharing a 'look'. "My family home is in Lambeth, in outer London, consider it part of this list." Carlisle told me.

"Are you sure?" I asked carefully.

Carlisle travelled every two or three years to his family home and he considered it a very important part of his history. His offering its use to the council was just one more way of showing me his loyalty and his unwavering belief in the council itself.

"Very." He said firmly.

"Excellent. Then that gives us twelve properties to begin with." I nodded proudly at my father. "Now, let's talk about how we're going to pay for all of this." I laughed.

**BPOV**

"What are you looking at me for?" I asked.

"Because you are the last one of us to get married." Charlotte giggled. "Plus, you married Mr Uptight **and** managed to get him to bed you before you had the ring on your finger. You're an expert!" She crowed.

I cringed. "Jesus, you can't be serious?"

She creased her brows together and put a hand on my arm the same way Esme normally would. "I never joke about sex, dear." She did Esme's voice perfectly and I cracked up.

"I can't help you Kate, honestly I can't. It was a fluke that someone like Edward fell for someone like me." I mumbled.

Rosie rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Alice, however, had plenty to say. She jumped down off her spot on the glass stairs and came to my side. "You honestly believe your own bullshit, don't you Bella?" She laughed. "Long before you decided you wanted him he was plotting ways to get you into bed." She tapped her temple as if to tell me she'd either seen it or knew about it. "You might think you did nothing but you did plenty. He was a wreck." She giggled.

I squinted at her as though she was insane. "He was not. He was the perfect gentleman, most of the time. I had to push him all the time to go further. Oops." I put my hand over my mouth when I realized I'd said too much.

All the women started laughing then. Calls of 'I told you so' and 'she's not as innocent as she looks' rang out around the living room.

Alice pointed at me and then waved her hand from my feet to my face. "Ladies, I give you Forks' very own ingénue. Trust me ladies, she didn't have to try too hard to land him, but I can tell you it wasn't always easy either." She giggled.

I cringed. I didn't want to discuss my premarital sex life and I didn't want any part of helping Kate bed Randall. It was just too much information for me. Unfortunately the others thought I knew what I was doing and it was decided that Kate would do what I did. I had no idea what I'd done exactly, but it became the general consensus that I'd done it very well.

Alice took charge then. "We'll start with the dress." She announced. "You'll need to show me what you've chosen to wear for the christening."

Kate ran up the glass stairs and came back a few minutes later with a garment bag over her arm. She unzipped it and a lovely cream lace dress tumbled out of it. It really was very nice, if a little old for her, I thought.

Alice was shaking her head. "This won't do." She zipped the bag back up and hung it over the back of the sofa. "With so many guests arriving tonight and tomorrow we won't have time to go into Port Angeles or even to Seattle, so you'll wear something of mine or Bella's, we're about the same size." Kate nodded as though she were receiving instructions from the Pope. "Now on to the party. Once the children are asleep for the evening we're going to have to work hard to set the scene up properly. Bella, you danced with him at Nessa's christening right?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I guess I did." I shrugged.

"Is he any good?" She asked.

I laughed. "How the hell would I know, I suck myself."

All the women laughed then. "She's got a point." Charlotte raised her eyebrows at Alice.

Alice waved her hands about a bit. "No matter. He must like to dance or he wouldn't have at the wedding or the christening, so getting him onto the floor isn't going to be a problem." She turned and looked right at me then, dread spread through me. "No panties worked a treat on Edward, right?" She asked.

I buried my face in my hands and groaned. "Jesus Alice." I muttered.

**Eleazar POV**

I'd underestimated the boy totally. When we'd arrived to 'convince' him to take the position I had believed his posturing and his pleading to be left alone. I'd believed that he truly didn't want to become the chairman and he'd fooled me. Totally. Completely.

It was obvious he'd spent weeks, possibly months, researching and locating properties for us to purchase. He'd done it quietly and with plenty of style. He had pictures, condition reports, agent appraisal certificates and area maps to show us why he'd chosen the places he'd picked.

He'd been in contact with Jonathon in Australia and had arranged for him to inspect a property. He'd talked with his mate and given permission for his personal family home to be used as a safe haven for travelling vampires in Chicago. He'd located a lawyer and by the sound of it he may have located an undead lawyer too.

Couple that with the impressive school he had built from nothing and I was staring at a genius. A genius who didn't trust me as far as I could be thrown, but a genius all the same.

He scowled at me across the table and I knew my thoughts were no longer my own. "Enough Eleazar." He growled and I nodded. He slid a folder of documents across the table to me and I opened them to read. "There are two ways the capital can be raised for our property purchases. One, we use the original idea and anyone who wishes to register pays a premium. We then invest that money in the property market and in the stock market using Alice' precognition to make a tidy profit. Or two, we set up a dummy company and attract human investors and keep buying up property all over the world. The ones we don't want to use as safe houses we lease out, using the profit from that to finance our other ventures. I don't care which way we do it and I'd be happy to hear other ideas." He announced.

"Can we do both?" Randall asked. "If we want the registration of our kind to be fair and equal we're going to have to set the bar pretty low to accommodate the nomads, that means the pot is shallow, right?" He asked.

"That's one way of putting it, yes. I agree that nobody should put in more than anyone else, it keeps it fair and equal that way." Edward agreed, shifting forward in his seat and clasping his hands under his chin.

"So if all the registrations put in a little bit each we can use that as collateral to start the property portfolio, but can we also set up a dummy company and seek investors so we can get some of the other ideas up and running quickly too?" Randall asked.

Edward thought on it for a moment, tilted his head to one side and smirked. "Tell me more." He asked quietly.

I knew he saw the benefit in the scheme, from both angles, otherwise he'd never have suggested it, but it was obvious that he wanted to see if Randall could work out the advantages too. It was a small test. I knew Edward wasn't a particular fan of Randall's, the way the cocky little shit baited Edward at every turn would've gotten on anyone's nerves eventually, but I also knew from the months Randall had spent with us in Denali that he had a good sound mind.

Randall pulled another crinkled piece of paper from his pants pocket and smoothed it out on the table top. It was hardly an impressive gesture. More like a schoolboy bringing his shredded homework to class citing his dog had attempted to eat it when the teacher enquired about its filthy status.

He read from his page for a few seconds and then looked up at Edward. He was hesitant but hit his stride early on in the speech. "Well, when we were discussing what the council could do we said we wanted to make a bank of our own so we could help each other out. That can't happen if there's no money, right? Then we said we wanted to buy up property, which you've already started and it's already an impressive list, but it's not going to come cheap is it? And if we want to help others, newborns and stuff, then we're going to need more money than just registrations can bring in, even if we invest it real well. All this legal shit won't come cheap either. Sorry Esme. Bribing some asshole to make you a false passport costs a pretty penny, I know." He looked down at his list again and then looked back up at Edward. "Oh yeah, and we want to make an orphan fund, for kids like Angel."

He folded his paper and slid it back into his pocket.

"I understand all that, but why do you think we should use both option one and option two to make the money available?" Edward asked carefully, as though he was speaking with a child. He didn't ask in a condescending way, it was obvious he just wanted to give Randall the chance to explain his thoughts in his own way.

"Well, say we only use the money from registrations, okay?" He asked and we all nodded. "Well, it will take years to make enough money, even using Alice to invest it, before we can buy any decent property and make a profit from it. Right?" He asked.

"Indeed." Edward said with a wide grin on his face. He was enjoying watching Randall bloom in front of us.

"But if we had some investors we could buy a heap of houses now and lease them out now and start making money straight away. Sure, we'd have to give a cut of it back to the investors to pay back their investment, but we'd still have a steady stream of cash coming in. It's the only way to make the other things happen at the same time as the safe houses." He said it so surely and he seemed relieved when he was finished. He slumped back into his chair and waited for Edward's response.

Edward beamed down the table at him. He leant across Liam and offered his fist to Randall. Randall's eyes shot open like he'd been shot. He put his fist out and bumped Edward's cautiously. "Exactly." Was all Edward said. "So, Randall has cleared all that up, let's vote."

"All those in favour of only using registrations to buy property say aye." Carlisle said firmly. Not a sound was heard. Esme began scratching away in her notepad. "All those in favour of using only investors to create the capital needed to purchase the properties say aye." Again, not a sound was heard. Esme wrote again. "All those in favour of using both investors and registrations to create a bank, buy property, set up an orphan fund and to buy us good illegal representation say aye."

Edward was smirking at the use of the term 'illegal representation' but a loud chorus of 'ayes' rent the room. Esme scribbled away happily at the end of the table.

"The motion is carried." Carlisle announced unnecessarily.

**EPOV**

That had been easier than I thought it was going to be. I'd rather not have had to sit through Eleazar's internal monologue as it unfolded, but it had gone as I'd planned.

I hadn't expected Randall to be so astute and it had come as a rather impressive shock to know that he had a good, solid business mind.

Now for the tricky bit.

"Good. Now that is settled I'd like to open the registration issue. After careful consideration, and a little research, I believe the 'buy in' price per initial registration should be capped at ten thousand American dollars." I gave them a few seconds to digest the suggestion and then I continued. "It's low enough that the vast majority will be able to pay it easily, but not so far out of reach of the others that the fund will have to extend itself to include too many who cannot pay it." I looked along the table to determine their individual thoughts on the matter.

If any of them would object too strenuously it would be Peter. Nomads had little access to that kind of money and found it difficult to produce it if needed, which of course, was exactly the reason we were setting this up in the first place.

His thoughts swam for a few seconds while he thought on just how he was going to come up with twenty thousand dollars, for himself and for Charlotte, to register. "I agree." He said when he'd found the way. He was going to sell some shares he had in a grass roots computer company he'd acquired in the late 90's, during the silicone revolution. I was pleased to see that this meant enough to him that he'd sell a part of his nest egg to be a part of it.

"I agree." Carlisle announced with ease. Money was no problem for a Cullen.

"I agree." Liam said firmly.

"I'm in." Randall said. "It's only money, right?" He chuckled.

"Done." Said Dieter.

That left Eleazar. "I agree but on one condition." He said.

"Let's hear it." Liam said, saving me from having to.

"I want it done quietly. Those who can't afford to register mustn't be made to feel inferior because of it." He said evenly.

"I couldn't agree more. I suggest the few that cannot easily, or safely, come up with the registration fee be contacted separately by the members of this council personally." I suggested. "We can do it either by letter or over the phone, but I think they should be offered a membership by the council based on what they can afford to contribute. Most of them have other things to offer, so we shouldn't rule out a contra deal."

"You've researched, you say?" Eleazar shot me a stern look.

"I have." I admitted. I wondered where he was going, I didn't have to wait long.

He sighed. "So you know which of those who are likely to want to register won't be able to find that sort of money, correct?" He asked astutely.

"Correct." I agreed. The others all gasped and twittered. There were murmurs of 'is that legal' and 'should he be able to do that' and from Randall an almost expected 'nosy fucker'. "I haven't sat idle, gentlemen." I sniggered and earned myself a soft hiss from my mother.

"Arrogance is never attractive, Edward." She admonished me and I cringed.

"Yeah, sweetheart, if you're arrogant the girls won't want to play with you." Peter teased.

"Girls." I muttered darkly. I shot Esme a warning glance and then turned back to the council. I pulled a page from the back of a folder and read from it. "Of the vampires that were present at the war eighty-nine percent of them can afford to pay the registration fee as it stands without causing any financial hardship. That's roughly ten vampires that either can't afford it or I can't find the means they'll use to pay for it." I smiled smugly and stifled my chortle as Liam began trying to do quick calculations in his head. "Of those ten three of them are from one coven, two are a mated pair who rely on a coven mate for their income. One pair would find it difficult to contribute that amount without alerting their government to the transfer of the funds, but are able to make the payment easily if they can get the money out. One was a nomad but now lives with an established coven; I have no idea if that coven would cover his payment. Another is from a small island nation with a GDP of less than two thousand American dollars per annum." I said smugly.

I left them to ponder that while I sifted through their thoughts.

Liam didn't care that I'd done the research. Dieter didn't either but he really did want to know how I'd managed to find out the information in the first place. Carlisle and Peter trusted me implicitly, neither questioned my motives or my methods. That left Randall and Eleazar.

Eleazar wasn't happy but he was resigned that I'd done the research for the right reasons. "Then I agree." He said finally.

I was stunned and pleasantly surprised when Randall did the math. "I don't give a shit that you checked everyone out, but that's only nine. Who's the tenth?" He asked, eyeing me carefully.

I grinned. "You are."

Esme growled and told me I was a shit in her thoughts. It was a fair assessment, I thought.

**Romania**

Raul stood over the rapidly cooling body of the prisoner and silently cursed his bloodlust. He'd not been able to exact the change and the boy had died. He'd not suffered though. His broken neck had rendered him silent and physically unaware, though his brain must certainly have been screaming in torment as Raul tried in vain to inject his venom into the boy's body, without igniting his thirst.

The merest slice of his teeth into the boy's skin had sent Raul into a frenzy. He'd been unable to inject nearly enough venom before blood rushed to the surface of the boys flesh. In desperation he'd held his fingers over the wounds, hoping to hold off the blood loss while the venom did its work, but it was to no avail. The boy had bled profusely – from the numerous crescent shaped marks on his body- and Raul had had to feed from him to stop him bleeding out right there on the ancient Persian rug in Raul's chamber.

Raul disposed of his body in the incinerator at the back of the piggery and then returned to his study. He'd done exactly as his father had done. Bitten all over the body but the boy refused to turn! Instead his blood had taunted Raul and he'd bitten harder and far deeper than he supposed he should have.

Next time he'd have to make many shallow bites. He'd feed first. Sate his thirst before choosing someone to attempt to turn. Stave off his bloodlust by having his fill of it before injecting his venom.

He only had two more days before Uncle Eleazar would arrive and he knew that the change took at least three, so attempting it again now would be madness. He'd wait until his guest returned to America and then he'd find another.

Seven hours later his sister sat perched on a bench seat in the castles kitchens opposite his security advisor as they sipped coffee from tiny chipped cups.

Raul watched from the servant's hallway and tried to look as casual as he possibly could while the maids and kitchen hands moved quickly by him as they went about their business.

Daria looked happy, content even. Dominique said nothing, just pushed a plate towards her after taking a morsel for himself. The chefs moved about the kitchen as though the two of them weren't really there. They were the only occupants of the benches, the only out of place people in a sea of ordinary worker bees. They sat as though in a bubble of their own, neither noticing anyone other than the companion they'd come to share the meal with.

Raul watched fascinated as Daria tore a piece of bread from the chunk on the board between them, she dipped it in the saucer of warmed honey and then put it gingerly into her mouth. She mirrored Dominique's every move. If he chewed she chewed. If he stilled and savoured the taste she did too. It was as though he were teaching her to eat. Raul knew that he was, he knew that Daria was having lessons on being human from her new friend.

She closed her eyes as she swallowed, obviously enjoying the taste. Dominique did the same but only after watching intently as Daria ate. It was as though he was careful that she had her fill before he himself partook of the remains of the meal. To Raul it was both protective and deeply intimate.

When the bread had been consumed they returned to the tiny cups. Each sipped and savoured the flavour before grinning over the top of empty cups.

"I will wait by the east gate at three." Dominique said quietly as he rose from his seat.

Daria nodded but said nothing in reply. She watched him walk away. When the sound of his boots on the stone floor had softened she turned and stared directly at where her brother stood watching. "Won't you join me, brother?" She asked cautiously.

She was nervous and her hands were trembling as Raul stepped out of the shadows and joined her on the bench. It was still warm from where Dom had sat. "Leave us." Raul said to the two chefs and their two apprentices.

They scurried out of the room, closing the hall door as they left.

"Why do you hide?" Daria asked.

Raul sighed, putting his hand to the back of his neck subconsciously. "I didn't want to intrude." He said honestly.

"It is no intrusion, it is just a meal." Daria said, tipping her head to the side as though she was trying to see what her brother truly was and how he felt about 'catching' her eating a human meal, with a human.

"Is it?" Raul asked. "Is it just a meal?"

Daria smiled then. A soft, beautiful smile lit up her face and her eyes. Raul had never seen her smile this way before. He didn't know what it meant but he knew it was lovely, knew it was something he wanted to see on her face more often. "I don't know." She sighed. "Perhaps not."

Raul sighed and nodded minutely. Daria caught the movement easily though a human would not have. "Will you tell him?" He asked.

Daria lowered her eyes to the table top. "Should I? Can I? Will you allow it?" She asked carefully, reaching across the table for his hand.

He gave it her to eagerly. They'd always been close and should be closer now that they were the last of their family line, however convoluted that line may be. Neither of them had been born to the parents they'd known as mother and father, but they did love each other as siblings should. Raul may not understand her need to behave as a human, but he understood her need for companionship. He felt the need too but didn't quite know how to achieve it for himself. He didn't resent her trying. He worried for her safety. He worried about their secret becoming known inside the castle walls and he worried about how to protect her from that. But he didn't take exception to her need for a mate. He liked and respected Dominique and he would be a fine protector for Daria.

"If he is who you want, you should. But know this, if he rejects you because of it I will have to end him." He said sternly then nodded to make sure she knew he meant what he said. Her eyes grew larger in her face and her breathing quickened. He'd frightened her and it was then that he knew how very important Dominique had become to his sister. He softened his features and squeezed her hand very softly. "If you believe in him then so shall I, alright?" He whispered.

A tear spilled over Daria's cheek and he leapt from his side of the bench and came to her side. He pulled her closer, until she was right alongside him. He draped an arm across her shoulders and soothed her by stroking her hand with his free one. She looked up at him through tear stained lashes. "He is mortal." She sobbed.

And then Raul understood his sister's anguish. To love a mortal was to watch that mortal grow old and die. As human as Daria was, she would out live Dominique and have to suffer his loss one day. "That can be overcome." Raul whispered to his quietly sobbing sister.

He tucked her under his chin and stroked her hand softly while she cried.

**BPOV**

There was no getting out of christening duties this time for me, or for Nessa. Last time we'd hosted such a ceremony I had been able to cry off most of the annoying duties Alice had thought up for us to do because I'd been still newborn and struggling with my thirst. Also, we'd had a newborn baby to contend with and as easygoing as she had been at the time, we were able to make it seem as though she demanded a lot more of our time than she really did.

That wasn't so this time around.

Alice had her clipboard again. She was shouting instructions to anyone who happened to pass by her inside the house, and also at anyone stupid enough to approach the yard from anywhere near.

So many others had arrived the night before, and that morning, that the house and yard teemed with vampires all carrying out Alice' ridiculous instructions.

Benjamin and Tia were the first to come the night before. They'd come alone, again, much to Carlisle's dismay. An invitation had been sent to Amun and Kebi, of course, but their polite refusal to attend had been a shock to us all. With no threat looming we all felt sure that Amun would attend, but he had declined.

Zafrina and Kachiri and Zuhar arrived in the middle of the night via the forest, scaring the hell out of Jasper as he came home over the mountains from a hunt. I had so wanted to question Zaffy about her and Alistair but Alice had sent us both in opposite directions, on equally stupid errands, and the opportunity never arose.

What was a surprise was Rennie arriving with Anna. It wasn't surprising that they arrived together, they were coven mates, but it was surprising that they arrived _together _together. Alice folded him into a tight hug and patted his shoulder as he explained that they had mourned the loss of his Maria and had found solace in each other. It wasn't perfect and they both felt deeply guilty, but they at least felt a little better when they were together. Nobody begrudged them the tiny piece of happiness they'd carved from a horrific loss.

The next morning Marcus, Renata, Samuel, Beatriz, Nathaniel and Angelica arrived en masse. Four running and the two hybrids in a rental car from Port Angeles. I hadn't spent much time with any of them after the fight and hoped I would be able to over the coming days. Of course we knew that Nathaniel and Angelica were a couple now and that they were currently living together in Italy, but other than that we didn't know anything else. Secretly all the women I knew were hoping they'd soon announce their engagement.

Nessa was helping me roll place cards into their little silver holders when Nathaniel arrived. She flew from the chair beside me and flung herself up into his arms. He hugged her tightly and she immediately put her hand to his cheek, showing him something that made him beam down at her.

"You are so very clever my little friend." He crowed. Edward wasn't around so I had no way to know what she'd showed him.

She slid down out of his arms and stood at Angelica's feet, waiting to be picked up by her. She was more hesitant with Angelica but when the girl lifted Nessa up onto her hip Nessa's hesitancy fled her little body. She kissed Angelica daintily on the cheek and then showed her something too, her little hand pressed to her chin.

After some loud hellos and a few hugs and kisses the little group of hybrids moved outside. I didn't see any of them again until late that afternoon. Seth arrived, asked where Nessa was and went outside. I wanted to make sure that Nessa had learnt her lesson and wasn't ignoring Seth, so I stood at the dining room windows and watched the small group on the lawn.

Nathaniel was lying in the grass with Angelica sprawled across his chest. He lazily stroked her hair, she rubbed his belly through his shirt. They both spoke animatedly to Seth and Nessa but their actions were very intimate.

In contrast Nessa was sitting on Seth's shoulders while he sat, pulling strands of grass from the ground and shredding them between his fingers idly as he talked with Nathaniel about school and work and travel.

The two couples were so different and yet so very much the same. Four supernatural beings who'd found their soul mates. That one was a tiny little girl, her mate a teenage wolf, made no difference. Love was love, devotion was devotion and they each had it in spades.

"She's growing so fast." Maggie startled me from my thoughts.

I hadn't heard her or Garrett arrive but I was so glad to see her. I hugged her happily. "She is. You must notice it more than us, not having seen her every day?" I asked as we both went back to the windows to look at Nessa again.

She had gotten off Seth's shoulders now and was chasing him around and around in circles as Seth tried to keep his end of the conversation up with Nathaniel and Angelica. He let himself be 'caught' several times and then they both collapsed onto the grass in hysterics. He never tired of her games, never sought anything more his own age to do.

"Has Angel settled down?" She asked carefully.

I giggled softly. "She's a handful, that's for sure." I told her. "She's stopped wailing day and night though, yes. _Now_ she talks day and night." I giggled.

And it was true. Angel might have stopped crying for nothing but she'd swapped that for talking. Rose and Em were having a hell of a time getting her to be quiet, ever. It was as though she decided three days ago that she was capable of talking and embraced it so thoroughly that she now has no time for anything else. Last night she'd been talking with Anna about the party that was coming and had kicked up quite a stink when it was time for her to go home to bed for the night. Rose took it in her stride and accepted Angel for who and what she was, but I knew that Em was struggling. He'd envisioned a peaceful, quiet little girl like Nessa – his only point of reference of course – and was having trouble coming to terms with the whirlwind that was his daughter.

It was evident that he loved her, she was just a lot different to Nessa. He had a lot of fun with her though. He spent hours playing with her in her room, in the pool house, at the cottage and in the forest. She wasn't ready to be taught to hunt even though Nessa had been hunting – with help from us – at the same age. It wouldn't be long though and Em was really looking forward to teaching his daughter how to do it for herself.

A huge delivery van came rumbling up the driveway and Alice came skipping down the stairs. "Alright you lot, enough catching up, come and help."

Those of us that couldn't run without being caught trudged out into the driveway to help unpack the van. Tables, chairs, the lectern again, the marble 'birdbath' and box after box of decorations and assorted paraphernalia came out of that van that morning.

Alice stood with her clipboard and pen and directed traffic at the back door as it all was walked past her and out into the massive tent in the backyard. She barked orders at everyone and told them all where to place everything and god help you if you angled a chair incorrectly or dared to string a light too low or too high. Her inhuman screeching could've been heard at the cottage four miles away!

Eventually she calmed down as the place started to take shape. With Em and Jaz putting the final touches to the decking so that there could be the expected dancing Alice was finally happy with the look of everything and she put her clipboard down, to the relief of all those assembled.

She thanked us all, of course, but everyone was pleased when we were released from duty and could relax a little.

As the sun went down the English girls arrived and then the Russians. The two girls looked as happy together as ever but Demetri and Rose were very sad to have to tell us of the loss of their Viktor.

A crowd gathered to hear the tale. Esme held my hand as we listened. Nessa cried quietly throughout.

"He was the same as ever when we got home from here this last time. He seemed to settle back into his life as he should. Sveta and Vana took turn to watch, but he tricky." Demetri waggled his finger affectionately as if to punctuate just how sneaky Viktor could be when he wanted to run away. "He slip out and we lose him again. No call to collect him, not even from Policia or hospital. We check everywhere, all places he end up other times, he no there. Thirty days go by, no word at all." Demetri stopped there and shook his head sadly. "My sire, Tolenka, he is in the north, he calls me, tells me our Viktor perish near his town. Nearby in Emtsa there is bad bad vampire, Kirkov, he destroy Viktor because see him wandering, think he spy." Demetri's English got steadily worse as the tale went on.

"Oh my god." Esme gasped. "I'm so sorry Demetri." She rushed forward and hugged him tightly. It was such a mother thing to do even Demetri sagged against her as she patted his cheek.

There really was nothing we could say or do to comfort the Russians but we did our best. We dragged them into the bosom of the group and tried to distract them with all the gossip and good news of Kate and Randall's impending wedding.

Rosie arriving with Angel early in the evening did the trick. The women hovered and fawned over her, the men were complimentary and stood in small groups catching up.

By the time Edward and his council members arrived home from their long day of meetings the big house was buzzing with excitement and filled with vampires eager for the coming party the next day.

Some of the covens might not have had much to be happy about at the moment, but as a group there was a general feeling of expectation. We'd won the war and the right to celebrate the birth of a new member to our family.

**EPOV**

"I've got money!" Randall's angry voice erupted through the conference room.

I couldn't quite hold in my bark of laughter. Esme shot me another unhappy look and Carlisle berated me in his thoughts.

"Nobody said you didn't." I told a panting Randall.

He slammed his fists down on to the table top. "That's exactly what you said." He squinted his eyes at me in fury. "You said you'd researched everyone and found ten that couldn't pay. If I'm one of them you are saying I don't have the money to buy in." He stormed.

Whilst I was enjoying having wiped the smug smile off his face I was sorry I'd upset him as much as I obviously had. "Randall, calm down and let me explain, please." I used a steady voice and waited for him to settle his breathing and sit back in his chair. When he had I continued. "I'm not saying you can't afford it, I never said that. What I said was, there were ten members who either couldn't afford it or I couldn't find out if they could afford it. You, my friend, have hidden your money so bloody well I can't find your name on a tax file in _any_ country on earth. As far as the IRS is concerned you don't exist." I chuckled as his eyes shot up in surprise. The others gasped at my words. Every thought was the same. How in fuck had Randall, of all people, managed to thwart the IRS? Nobody had been able to get out of taxes, not even Carlisle and he was the smartest person we all knew. "So, you see Randall, that makes you not only exceptional but also very, very valuable to the council. If our dummy company didn't have to pay taxes, _anywhere,_ we'd make a lot bigger profit and be able to fund a lot more ventures." I smiled smugly as that began to dawn on them.

"Holy shit." Peter crowed. "Sorry Esme." He muttered.

Randall sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. A slow smile spread across his lips. _'I'm not as dumb as you once thought I was, am I Eddie?' _He thought at me pointedly.

"Don't fucking call me Eddie." I growled. "And I never thought you were dumb. Fucking annoying is different from dumb. Ask Emmett." I laughed. "Sorry Esme." I whispered when I saw the scowl on her face.

Everyone laughed but Randall leaned over, past Liam, and looked me dead in the eye. "I'll show you how it's done you smug asshole, sorry Esme but he is an asshole sometimes, but you have to stop treating me like your dumb cousin Jim-Bob who married his sister, right?" He grinned evilly.

"Done." I leaned down and offered him my hand. He took it and we shook, both with wide grins on our faces. "I fucking hate paying taxes." I muttered, making the others laugh in agreement. "Sorry Esme."

"You can be a smug asshole, so I'll let it slide." She giggled. "I hate fucking taxes too."

Two hours later we locked the conference room doors behind us and made our way out of the building. We now had a firm plan mapped out how to not only set up our bank but also how to avoid paying taxes on any of it. It was such a simple plan, so beautiful and so sneaky it made the hair at the back of my neck stand on end. That it had to come from fucking Randall ate at me, but if it meant we could throw more money at helping our kind I could handle it. And it would mean that.

As we ran towards the house my council was in good spirits. We'd accomplished a lot in two days. We had a good clear plan to go forward and everyone had been set a task to accomplish before the next time we met, which was in three months. We'd have another quick meeting after the christening and before everyone went their separate ways, but the bulk of our plans were laid out now.

It was a good feeling. My council were working well together. My council. Shit. I never thought it would get this far. But we were really doing it. It was hard to think of a time, other than with Bella or Nessa, that I'd felt quite so proud as I did on the run back to the big house.

"Listen to that." Carlisle said as we neared the jetty.

There had to be at least fifty vampires in the house and on the lawn. The tent was already set up, the chairs all in their places. The dance floor had its lights strung and its jukebox in situ. The place cards were all set and the white carpet was lying in its final position leading to the lectern. We'd missed the entire process. Legitimately too.

"Bugger that, smell that." Randall laughed.

The smell was incredible. So many mixed scents. Vampire, hybrid, wolf.

"But no clipboard wielding christening nazi." Esme giggled as she shot off past us and up the lawn. "Being your secretary has its perks." She laughed over her shoulder.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading. All the feedback has been very complimentary and encouraging with regard to the Romanian point of view so I have decided to continue with it. I am rather enjoying the development of both Raul and Daria. **

**Thank you to those who have taken the time to message me, or review, it is most appreciated and I love replying to you all. Any chance to talk about my beloved vamps ;)**

**Please review, it's all I ask. xx**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9 – Year One – The Christening of God's Angel.

**BPOV**

Angel's christening was a casual affair just like Nessa's had been. Carlisle once again officiated, and did so beautifully of course. His quiet reverence for his children and grandchildren ensured that the short ceremony was done with considerable respect and not a little style.

Edward and I stood hand in hand opposite Alice and Jasper as we made our pledge to protect and teach Angel all that we could in our capacity as her godparents. Emmett beamed proudly as his daughter was dunked in the makeshift font and Rosalie choked back a little sob when Carlisle blessed her and Emmett, then Angel, and told them that she was now under the protection of God.

Esme dabbed delicately at her dry eyes. My mother sobbed like an idiot the whole time. Nessa clapped and cheered as though it was a football game and her favourite team had scored the winning touchdown. Angel joined in and within seconds the two girls were babbling away to each other as if Carlisle didn't exist.

It was the usual Cullen freak show and it was utterly perfect.

After another quick blessing it was done and we were all free to enjoy ourselves.

Angel was adorable in her long white gown and tiny pink ballet slippers. Nessa was so sweet in her little pale pink chiffon dress with its wide pink satin belt. Carlisle had given her a Cullen crest necklace like Rosie's and she wore it very proudly. Edward was stunningly handsome in his dark suit and crisp white button down. The men had forgone ties, which had strangely been okayed by Rosie who was normally rampageous when it came to Emmett in a suit, but they looked dapper and beautifully turned out all the same.

There had been no way to get around Alice choosing the women's outfits, however. Esme had been smart and chosen hers whilst shopping with Alice in Port Angeles. I thought leaving my choice to the last possible minute would allow me to get away with a bit more casual attire, but Alice had other ideas. She'd arrived at the cottage during the night and had put a garment bag on the padded seat at the end of our bed. A stern 'wear that' was whispered to me as she went back out the front door. Apparently I was wearing that.

It wasn't quite as bad as I'd imagined and when I slid it on it felt divine.

It was a wine coloured wrap dress in some sort of soft, floaty material. The colour was striking and Edward had sucked in a deep breath when I'd come out of our bathroom with it in, so I figured it looked okay.

After the ceremony Rosie took Angel upstairs to change her into something suitable for her to play in and I set about greeting all our new guests. Some had arrived just in time for the actual ceremony, as had the humans and wolves. So it was a huge group that sprawled out onto the lawn at the back of the big house.

The sun had long since set so the yard was cast into shadow by the tall trees. The garden torches lit paths and the deck and the pool house threw shards of bright white light out into the yard at various points. I walked through these patches of light as I sought out faces I'd not seen since the fight. Julian and Mary gave me a big hug each and Charles and Makenna were loud and enthusiastic when I found them by the decking. It was so good to see them, especially Makenna, and to see that she'd healed perfectly.

Nathaniel and Angelica sat hand in hand on deck chairs outside the pool house door. Beside them sat Paul and Rachel, their little Kelly sitting on the ground at their feet. Nessa and Angel sat on either side of Kelly and between the three of them they had a myriad of dolls in various states of undress. Nessa was instructing her cousin and friend on the best way to for their dolls to wear their selected outfits.

"My Aunty Alice, she's a fashion teacher you know, she says there are only five things a lady should remember when she gets dressed." Nessa said earnestly. Both Kelly and Angel hung on her every word, their eyes wide as they waited for Alice' truths to be handed down to them. I was worried, god only knew what Alice had been teaching Nessa. "One, bright red lipstick is for clowns." She giggled. "Two, only Fascist dictators wear caps. Girls wear pretty hair clips, ribbons and bows, never hats or caps. Three, never wear a t-shirt with princess on the front unless you are actually a princess. My daddy says I'm his princess and Aunty Alice says that's okay, but I'm only _his_ princess, not everyone's, so I shouldn't wear shirts that say I am. Four, never ever ask a boy if your bottom looks big, they all lie. If you think your bottom looks big it is just big. You should buy smaller pants or a bias cut skirt, whatever that is. And Five, Aunty Alice says that all girls are beautiful and we shouldn't care if boys think we are or not because we know we are and boys are stupid. This doll has bad hair." She said, throwing the doll onto the cement and choosing another.

I sighed. She was so grown up. She'd taken everything in, every word ever said to her she could recall perfectly and she'd learned something from everyone she'd ever come into contact with. She was the perfect mix of toddler, little girl and woman. There was so much of Edward in her. Her confidence, her self belief and her charm was all his. I wish I knew what she had inside her that came from me, other than a piece of my shield of course. As a human I'd been clumsy, unsure of myself and even more unsure of Edward. But this bright, intelligent little creature was mine too and I had no idea how I'd produced it.

I felt a warm hand slide into mine and I smiled. "Hey." I said, not needing to see who it was.

"Hey." Seth replied. "She sure is something, huh?"

"Yeah, she is." I agreed.

"This is good huh? Nothing hanging over us, it's just nice to see everyone happy." He whispered.

I looked around the yard at all the groups and nodded. My parents sat with Harry and Sue by the edge of the decking, drinks in hand and talking animatedly about the daycare centre. Benjamin was locked into deep discussion with Peter and Jasper as they went over what strategies had worked and what hadn't from the fight, again.

Rennie and Anna sat side by side at a table with Leah and Jack. Two wolves, two vampires, perfectly happy to spend time together. They spoke of weddings and of parties and life on the Rez as opposed to life in Germany as though it was a perfectly normal thing to be doing on a Sunday evening in Forks, Washington.

"It's so nice Seth." I agreed.

"I'm going to go and join in the dolly party over there, you wanna come too? We might learn something." He chuckled and nodded to where Nessa and the girls were.

"I think that's got your name written all over it." I giggled.

I turned back towards the tent and was accosted by a gaggle of giggling women. Kate, Charlotte, Alice Tanya and Rosie all eager to put their plan into action. I stood with them for a little while but didn't really join in. Whether or not Kate bedded Randall before they married really wasn't any of my business, but I smiled when I was expected to smile and laughed when they laughed.

What was more interesting was watching Alistair and Zafrina together. They were still so wary of almost everyone else – except for Nessa whom they both adored. They stood off to one side, just outside the 'door' of the tent, chatting amiably. Of course, while they were anywhere near us there would never be any privacy for them, just as there was never any for us. But they did their best to steal a moment. Zaffy leaned in when he spoke and he touched her forearm cautiously once or twice during their hushed whispers. It was lovely to watch. They were both so unsure of the other, although it was quite obvious just how taken with each other they truly were.

Edward came up behind me and wound a hand around my middle. The group of women all groaned when he arrived and they moved away slightly to continue their gossiping. He kissed me softly at the juncture of my neck and shoulder and sighed contentedly. "They look happy to see each other." He whispered into my ear, nodding towards Zaffy and Alistair.

I put both my hands on his across my belly and sighed. "They do. I wish they could decide where they wanted to be so they can be together all the time."

"They have decided, they just don't know how to tell their coven mates." He said sadly.

I had always assumed that Zaffy's love of her homeland would mean they'd settle there eventually, and seeing as Alistair was essentially a nomad of no fixed address that he'd follow her home. It hadn't quite worked out like that so far.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Edward kissed me again and steered me away from the edge of the decking and back into the tent. He whispered as we walked, "Leave them to themselves love, its complicated enough."

I nodded but still wished I knew what the outcome was going to be.

**EPOV**

I wanted everyone to have what I had. Acceptance, unconditional love, passion and family. It was hard to watch those who didn't have it and harder to watch and listen to those who thought they might have found it, but had no idea how to keep it.

I moved Bella and I into the tent to let Alistair and Zafrina work out their problems on their own. Whilst it was true that they had decided that they wanted to be together permanently, I had led Bella astray just now. I'd let her assume that the new couple would choose either Zafrina's home or Alistair's home to settle in, when in reality they'd chosen neither. This was going to complicate things in a significant way, for both of them, and for the coven mates they were going to be leaving behind. But I had been honest when I said we should leave them be, they would sort it out eventually.

I scanned the room quickly, searching for a good place to sequester my wife's attention. A quiet corner, dimly lit behind its enormous floral table arrangement looked a likely place so I steered her towards it. I pulled her to me and she fell gracefully into my lap on the linen covered chair. I had just put my hands into her hair, intending to pull her mouth to mine, when I picked up the annoying mental thoughts of Jonathon.

'_I see you behind there. Let that poor girl go.' _He chuckled in his head and I cringed right at the instant Bella opened her eyes to see why I hadn't yet kissed her.

She slapped at my arm then. "I don't care who you are listening to Edward, if you are going to drag me away from the party to kiss me you should be thinking about kissing me!" She hissed before stomping hard on my foot and dashing off through the crowd.

Fantastic.

Jonathon came out of the small group around Samuel and Beatriz then and strode towards where I sat, alone.

He came at me with his hand outstretched, I shook it and tried to smile.

"Sorry, I guess I caused that?" He nodded to where Bella now stood, hands on hips, loudly telling my cousins why I was such a shit husband.

"Not really, cause and effect I'm afraid." I chuckled though I didn't find it remotely funny.

"I'm sorry all the same." He said jovially. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, you travelled well?" I asked.

It was a common question amongst our kind. Moving between continents was sometimes a problem, documents were getting harder and harder to falsify, even if you were really who you said you were.

"No problems, this time." He agreed with a bob of his head. "Has the council made any progress on that?" He asked and I knew to what he was referring.

The bribery fund had been a joke at the start, but the council had soon come to realize that it might not be such a bad idea after we'd slipped into swapping horror stories from our past attempts to leave and re-enter the country at various times through history. Many a time we'd had to bribe an official in 'that' country or 'this' province. It was expensive and time consuming and it was becoming dangerous in certain situations. As technology advanced so did the likelihood that one of us, at some point, would be held indefinitely in some flea pit prison in some piss poor country simply because we couldn't prove who we really were. Or, on the other side of the coin, we'd proven it too well. Some of our forgeries were known to have been too good, too clean, too perfect, as ridiculous as that may seem.

The council hoped it could fix that by using a common forger. Someone we could either trust or threaten well enough into making us documents and licenses. If they all looked the same, for each of us in the group that is, then they wouldn't stand out quite so much when we used them often. We hadn't found the right person for the job, hence the discussion was to continue, but we at least now knew that we had to go ahead with the plan.

"Some. We'll need a few more hours to hash it out, but you'll know as soon as it's all set up." I told him.

"Excellent. I got held at JFK for three hours when I left after the fight. The guy they were going to use to cavity search me had two little kids and I'm not a vegetarian like you. It wasn't going to end well." He grimaced.

I shuddered at the thought and added 'clean up and containment crew' to my mental list of things to discuss at the next meeting. If someone snapped they were not only going to need bailing out, they would need legal representation and a cleanup crew to coordinate whatever mess they'd left behind in their wake.

"We'll make it a priority." I assured him. And it would have to be. With us all travelling more often to be together like this the problems were only going to increase, not decrease. "Thank you for scouting that house for me, by the way. I went ahead and bought it." I told him.

"No worries at all mate. Sydney is a top spot, Bexley is prime real estate, and it will be a good investment."

"I hope so." I agreed. "Would you excuse me a moment? I see my wife trying in vain to convince my daughter it's time for bed."

I left him then as he began to chuckle. His thoughts were filled with how lucky I was and how very beautiful my girls were. Had he been only thinking of Bella I'd have growled. But as I came nearer to them and I saw them both standing with their hands on their hips, one scowling at the other, I had to laugh. They might be both so very beautiful, but my god they could be a handful!

"Ladies, might I be of some assistance?" I chuckled as I came to stand before them.

"Tell her it's time for bed, Edward." Bella pouted.

Nessa tapped her temple and I concentrated on her thoughts. '_Seth promised me a dance, mommy says I have to go to sleep. I'm not a baby.' _She put a matching pout on her lips and stood her ground.

"Having silent conversations without me doesn't mean I'm not the boss of you." Bella pointed out to Nessa.

Nessa just looked up at me with her big brown eyes. I couldn't help but laugh. This was my lot in life. Wife and daughter at odds and me trying not to piss either of them off.

I took Bella's hand down off her hip and pulled it to my lips. I kissed her knuckles softly. "Dance with me?" I asked quietly.

Her eyes softened immediately. She either didn't notice my diversionary tactic or she wasn't really all that interested in fighting with Nessa, yet. It wasn't early but it wasn't late either. The little girl would need to go to bed soon, but if I could distract her mother for a little longer she'd get her dance and might then concede to going to bed without a fuss. It was a party, after all.

"I'd love to." Bella purred.

I led my wife away and as I was leaving I tapped my temple. 'One dance cheeky monkey, then its bedtime. You'll owe me.' I told our daughter.

Her high pitched giggle told me she'd heard and understood.

As I pulled Bella into my arms on the dance floor I heard Seth approach Nessa.

"Would you do me the honour of this dance Miss Cullen?" He asked formally.

She giggled again and my heart sang. She was so perfect. I saw so much of Bella in her and was so very proud of her. She had Bella's determination and her poise and style. What she got from me, besides her copper hair and ability to play piano, I had no idea. I knew her gift was somehow a piece of me and I knew she had a piece of Bella's shield inside her, but she was perfect, just as she was, just like her mother. I thanked my lucky stars that she was more Bella than me, two 'arrogant upstarts' as I'd been called often lately, wouldn't be too much fun.

"I'd love to." Nessa echoed her mother's words to me and soon I saw them coming out of the tent, hand in hand.

They made their way onto the dance floor. Seth stopped in the centre and bowed lowly from his waist. Nessa giggled quietly and curtsied daintily. He held out his hand for her and she took it. Then he swung her up into his arms and settled her at his hip. Her little legs dangled and swayed as they danced. She was blissfully happy and he was as proud as punch that she was his, and only his.

I knew just how he felt.

Bella nuzzled my neck, "You played me." She whispered.

I chuckled quietly. With her pressed tightly up against me I could feel the heat from her body and could smell her venom and her scent. She was mine, only mine and I adored her. "Totally worth it." I told her as I swung us around the dance floor. Her laugh told me she agreed.

**Rosalie POV**

I stood in the doorway – hand clasped tightly in Emmett's – and watched our daughter sleep.

She seemed so tiny in the huge bed in Esme and Carlisle's suite. I had no idea who was staying in what used to be our suite, but someone was. So Esme had offered their room for our little girl to sleep in until the party wound down and we could take her home.

Home. It was still so incredible to me. So amazing that I not only had Emmett but I had Angel and a home of my own too. I still didn't really understand how I'd gotten so lucky.

Emmett squeezed my hand and I knew he wanted to leave her and go down to the party. "A minute more." I whispered.

He wound his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder. "She's gorgeous, like her mother." He sighed into my neck. "Are you happy babe?" He asked.

I turned in his arms then. "So happy Em, I never thought I could be this happy." I admitted.

He knew I didn't mean it nastily, he knew better than to think I hadn't been happy when it had just been the two of us. "Me too." He told me with a grin. "I've got everything now, nobody has more than me." He kissed me at the corner of my lips then. "And don't say Eddies got a bigger tub, I've got a Jacuzzi, and he hasn't." He laughed.

I pushed him a little and he began to back us out of the room. We were still locked in each other's arms though, so we sort of walked like a crab until we were out of the doorway and onto the landing. I kissed him and smiled. "Do you ever wonder if it's time to grow up a bit and stop calling him Eddie, just because he gets pissy?" I asked with a chuckle.

Em widened his eyes and stared at me for a few seconds. His dimples were an inch deep when he smiled. "Nah, I'm not ready to grow up yet." He laughed.

"Yeah, me neither." I laughed against his lips. "Come dance with me Fred."

"Fred?" He asked. He always asked.

"Astaire, dumb ass." I told him. Like I always did.

He patted my ass as we ran down the stairs. "I might be a dumb ass, but you got a hot ass Mrs McCarty." He said. Like he always did.

We hit the dance floor at a run and he swung me wide and then pulled me back into his arms to start the dance. I winked at him and he grinned wider.

Three, two, one...I thought...

"Don't call me Eddie, dipshit." Ed hissed as he and Bella danced past us.

Jasper and Alice pranced past, huge grins on their faces. "You gonna dance like a girl all night faggot?" Emmett called after Jasper as he skipped and swayed through a quickstep.

Jasper threw him the bird, "Do you wear a polka dot bikini in your Jacuzzi, cluster fuck?" Jaz teased as he went by. Emmett hissed but kept dancing.

This was how it always was and how it was probably always going to be.

Alice and I shared a knowing smile over our husband's shoulders. Bella twirled past and I winked at her, she winked back. I noticed her stick her tongue out playfully at Alice as her and Edward moved by them.

We were a family, a real family. Vampire or not we fit here. All of us.

Emmett winked at me again. "Ready, babe?" He asked. Like he always did.

I smiled back as Esme and Carlisle danced past. "Language." She admonished.

As though it had been rehearsed the six of us turned to our mother and called, "Sorry Esme."

We all laughed, she huffed in exasperation and buried her face in Carlisle's lapel. "They are such assholes sometimes." She whispered into his throat.

"Language, my dear." Carlisle admonished softly as we all chuckled.

"Sorry Carlisle." She giggled as she pulled his mouth to hers.

**Seth POV**

The guys sometimes teased me about playing games with little kids but I never cared. I'd play whatever she damn well wanted and they could shove it.

I'd brush dolls hair and throw jacks, I'd let her cheat at old maid and she could slather me in little kids makeup anytime she wanted to. Hell, I'd let her take photos and post them on Facebook. I didn't care as long as it made her happy.

Angel was sweet too. We spent a lot of time with her and she was always much nicer when it was just us playing. She cried a lot when she was tiny, but now that she was running around and yabbering properly she'd stopped that mostly. It had to have been a hell of a hard start to life, being aware enough to know your parents were both dead. It didn't bother me when she cried. I sort of got it, she was just venting her anguish. Kids were usually heaps bigger when they learned they were adopted and then they let loose with the tears and hurt and rebellion. She came out knowing. So while the others struggled to find out what was wrong with her I just got it straight off.

But she was better now.

I could tell she loved Nessa heaps. She followed her around and copied everything she did. She practised talking like Nessa too. I heard her heaps of times echoing the last few sentences Nessa had come out with, trying to make her little mouth form the same shapes as Ness. It was kinda cute. I liked the kid a lot. She was real smart. Not as smart as my punkin, but plenty smarter than regular human kids her age. And she was real sweet too. She always wanted me to be a part of their games and she never, ever played favourites. She treated us both the same, as if Nessa was her sister and I was her brother. That suited me fine, made it easier for me to protect them both at the same time.

I felt a bit dumb in a stupid suit but Bella had said I looked handsome and she'd wanted me to wear it so she could take some family photos today, so of course I did. I'd do pretty much anything Bella wanted me to, Ed too. I spent more time with them than I did my own parents now. Dad never complained, mom had a bit of a dig now and then but I knew dad understood. He'd imprinted on my mom when they were both sixteen, so they knew that it was impossible to stay away from whoever it was you'd fallen for.

So that's how I ended up in a giant white tent, in a monkey suit, asking a seven year old for a dance. She was so goddamned cute when she parroted Bella the way she did. Such a grown up girl in a tiny body sometimes.

I took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. I'd done this so many times now. Every time I did I thought of Chloe. I'd hurt her and she'd never done a damn thing to deserve it. I knew she had a new bloke and they were happy, but it still bit at my gut to know that I could hurt someone like that.

The instant I'd finished my bow and Nessa had flung herself up at me all that went away. Her scent flooded me as I held her close to my chest and she was all I could think of. Her little legs hung down the front of my legs as I twirled her around and around. It wouldn't be long and she'd be dancing with me on her own two feet. She grew so fast, the last two and a half years had flown by so there was no reason to think the next two wouldn't too. Pretty soon she'd be at high school and I'd have the added worry of other boys being near her.

I'd beat anyone who laid a hand on her. Nobody would ever get close enough anyway, but just in case some horrid pimply little bastard decided to try I'd squash him like a bug. Unless she told me she wanted him to, then I'd have to let him. Imprinting was like that and it sucked ass. I'd imprinted on her, she hadn't imprinted on me. Edward said we were bonded, that she felt the same way for me that I did, but I wasn't so sure. I didn't doubt the way she loved me, I just didn't know if vampire bonding was the same as imprinting. Edward had imprinted on Bella and by the sound of it that was the same as how I'd imprinted on Nessa. But bonding? I had no idea. I knew there would never be anyone else for me, ever. Not ever. But she still had a choice and one day I was going to have to ask her to make it. Not now, thank heavens. But I knew that one day we would come to a crossroads and she would have to actually speak the words that would make her mine fully. That scared me beyond anything I'd ever known. Even facing the Romanians wasn't as frightening as that. At least then I'd had an entire army behind me, when she chose it would just be me.

I tried to put that out of my mind and concentrate on the here and now. For now she was here, with me, only me and for now she was only mine.

"What's wrong Sethy? Your face is all cloudy." She asked, her little brows creased.

I smiled. The language she used sometimes cracked me up. "Not cloudy, I'm just thinking little one. Nothing bad, promise."

She smiled up at me and put her hand to my cheek as we went round again.

Her memory was a nice one. Me lying on the sand at First Beach, Nessa lying beside me, our hands twined together between us, looking up at the clouds. She was laughing at me for saying one cloud looked just like Embry with a fish on his head.

I smiled down at her. "Love you punkin." I told her as we swished and turned around the dance floor. If I slowed down she'd kick me in the thighs until I sped up again.

"Love you brown boy." She whispered back and buried her head in my neck.

I heard Edward sigh and knew that he'd been reading from me and had heard our little declaration. It had to be hard on the big guy, watching us like this. Nessa sighed a bit too. I knew she was tired but she wasn't going to give in and go to bed when Bella told her too. Not tonight. She'd been waiting for tonight for a long time.

She'd told me that she had been waiting for this party for months. To her it was freeing. It was an end to all the nastiness that nearly claimed us all. Nessa saw this party as truly an end to the Romninians as she called them. If her mom and dad were having a party that meant that she was safe again. She'd never understood fully why we didn't throw a big party after the fight, she thought that was the first thing we'd do, celebrate our win. Sure, she knew we'd lost Brady and the others, but we'd also won the fight, and she couldn't work out what the difference was.

But now that this party was in full swing I knew that she felt better. I knew she'd let go of all her frightened thoughts now. She'd had nightmares for months and she'd shown them to me every morning before she went off to school. I'd 'taken' more tears from her in the past four months than I had in the whole two years before. She absolutely would not go into the woods in the direction of the clearing, ever. If we went hunting she would rather run right around the edge of the forest and wear herself out than go close to the clearing. Any smoke rising out of the woods triggered uncontrollable shivering in her and it scared the shit out of me, even now. It had been the first time I'd seen purple smoke too, but it scared Nessa witless whenever she saw any kind of smoke wafting up above the tree line. I guess she thought that if there was smoke there was vampire.

Hopefully now that she'd reconnected with Nathaniel and Angelica, and the party had finally come around, she'd settle down again and we could get on with growing up.

I felt a cool hand on my shoulder and turned to see Edward staring down at me. "She's asleep son." He said quietly.

I looked down and saw that Nessa was asleep on my chest. I was still swaying to the music but I was doing it subconsciously now, I'd long ago stopped really listening or concentrating on dancing. "Sorry." I told him.

He smiled. "Don't be." He squeezed my shoulder a bit. "Will you take her up and put her in her bed?" He asked. I nodded that I would. "Come and find me when she's settled, please?" He asked.

"Sure." I told him and went inside with a snuffling Nessa.

I tugged the blankets back on her little bed and put her in it. She didn't wake up but she reached for me, like she always did. I got down onto my knees beside the bed and put my head on the pillow beside her. I left my hand in hers until her grip loosened up and then I kissed her curly head and pulled the blankets up higher under her chin. "Love you punkin." I whispered before turning the light off and closing her door.

She didn't need me to sit at the foot of the bed, or in the rocker, anymore. She wouldn't wake up during the night now, and I knew that Edward and a hundred other vampires would hear her if she did. I didn't ever want to leave her but I knew that just wasn't practical, so I went back downstairs to find Edward like he'd asked me to.

**EPOV**

I hadn't known half the things Seth had been thinking as they'd danced, and I hurt, terribly. She was such a strong shield she could hide everything from me, just like her mother could, and I'd be none the wiser if not for Seth's thoughts just now.

I returned to dancing with Bella while Seth took Nessa to bed, but I did tell her we'd need to have a word with Seth when he came back.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

I kissed her cheek. "It will be." I told her and kept dancing.

The crowd was thinning slightly. Nathaniel and Angelica had already gone back to their hotel. Charlie and Renee were making sounds about heading home and I knew that when they went Harry and Sue would follow. Many of the wolves had left already, their human wives and girlfriends would tire long before they would, but it was a Sunday and nearly everyone had work tomorrow.

The vampires, however, would party on into dawn. A few mated pairs had run off for a few private moments in the forest, but they mostly returned soon after. Even in the few minutes since Nessa had been taken up to bed the party had been stepped up a notch. The music was more boisterous, more modern. The couples more physically affectionate both as they danced and as they stood around chatting. More hands were held. More backs were rubbed. More kisses were stolen in dark corners.

With the children now out of earshot conversations were beginning to turn either more serious or more blue. The men who had been in on the strategy meetings during the war had switched talk of business and hobbies to talk of war and lines of attack. The women had gone from talk of the christening and the latest fashion in Europe to some sneaky plot they had been forming. I only caught snatches of it here and there and it was as though every woman in the area knew about it, they'd all had a hand in setting up whatever was going to happen later.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know too much more. Rosie, Alice and Charlotte seemed to be at the helm of the plot and that was frightening. Whoever the object of their planning was I felt sorry for. I hoped, for once, it wasn't me.

I heard Seth whisper his love to Nessa and told Bella he was about to come back outside. She nodded and we stopped dancing. He came straight to me as he came through the glass doors.

"Come for a walk, son." I told him and he nodded. He knew what this was about and he wasn't worried. He knew he wasn't in any trouble. Bella on the other hand looked terrified. I stopped by Alice, who looked worried and was desperately searching her memory for a hint as to what the problem could be. "Nothing's wrong Ally, I promise. We just need a private word with Seth, that's all." I kissed her hair and she smiled up at me.

"If you say so Edward."

"I do." I told her. She turned back in to her group and resumed her conversation.

I grabbed for Bella's hand on my left and she took Seth's. We walked down through the yard and out to the forest as it ran along the river's edge. They began to run when I did, knowing we needed to get far enough away from the crowd to not be overheard.

We instinctively ran to the little clearing. Seth jumped up onto misery rock and waited while Bella settled herself beside him. She put a protective arm around his shoulders despite not knowing what I wanted to talk about.

"Can you tell Bella?" I asked him as he looked up at me with wide eyes.

"I suppose so." He muttered. "It's no big deal and she's okay, I promise, alright?" He asked us both. I nodded and Bella cringed but nodded all the same. He sighed, wondering how to say it so we wouldn't worry. "Okay. It really isn't a big deal. Nessa has no point of reference, you gotta remember that. When she was born we had a big celebration, even though we had to kill Victoria and James and Laurent. We had a big party for her christening even though you were already mad at Eleazar for telling Stefan and his idiot brother about the girls. Then we go all through the war planning and everyone comes to visit and she's allowed to play and have fun like always, so she thinks it's all no big deal. Then we have this big fight, she has to watch people killed and shit and when it's all done she can't work out why no party." He shrugged and his shoulders slumped. "You know she didn't really believe it was all over, but now that we've had this party she is sure it is."

Bella sighed. "I knew she'd expected a big celebration and I tried my best to explain to her about Brady and Eric and the others. I thought she understood?" She asked. "I heard Zaffy tell her too, she said she understood."

"She did. She did get that, she really did. But she thought once we'd buried them and all that that there would be a party to mark the win. She just got it into her head that a win meant a celebration. I guess she figured if there was no party she still had something to worry about. Maybe not the Romninians, but maybe something nobody had told her about yet." He said quietly.

"And now?" I asked.

"She's better now, I think. She just really wanted this party. Its closure for her. Everyone is here, she can see they are all happy, I think it's marked the end for her too." He shrugged again.

"And for you?" I asked.

"I'm fine." He whispered. "I did what I was supposed to do, protect her."

Bella kissed his cheek. "You did."

"What about the nightmares, the clearing, the smoke, can you explain that for Bella please?" I asked.

His eyes widened. "No fucking privacy." He muttered darkly and I knew he was castigating me for listening in his head. "Shit. That's not a big deal either, I swear. Sure, she had nightmares at the start, you guys knew about those. Hell you sat up with her all night too. And she hasn't had one for months now, so I'm pretty sure they are gone. The clearing isn't a big deal either. She won't go there and I don't blame her. She'd rather run round the long way than go through there. I get that. I don't like it there either. The only thing is, with Nessa, when she shows me why she won't go there she replays the things she saw. I keep asking her not to, to let it go and put those memories away, but she says she can't. I don't know if she can't or won't, I'm still working on it." He told us.

It made sense to me, that she'd be frightened to go into the clearing. I hadn't been back either. "The smoke?" I asked.

"That's getting better too." He said.

"What do you mean about smoke? What smoke?" Bella asked.

Seth scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand while he thought about what he wanted to say. He turned to me and grimaced, his thoughts filled with how big my mouth was. He was sure he had a good grip on Nessa's problems and in a way he resented my intrusion into that. I wanted to be angry, I was her father and had a right to know what was going on with my own child, but I was also well aware that if I had been normal – and Nessa had been normal too – I'd have had no idea there was a problem and I should be grateful to Seth for trying to fix it for her. I was.

"The smoke that day stuck with her. Now whenever she sees smoke, any kind, even from a bbq or bonfire, she gets frightened. But it's getting less and less, I promise. I've had her at the Rez heaps of times and I've made sure we've sat around the bonfire pit so she can see it's nothing to be scared of and she's getting better about it all the time. I've been talking to her about it, making sure she knows the difference between normal smoke and the purple smoke. She says she knows, but I think her fear is subconscious." He slumped a little then.

"Oh Seth." Bella crooned. She pulled his head to her shoulder and stroked his back. "I'm so glad she's got you. I had no idea. What can I do to help? What should we do Edward?" She asked me with sad eyes.

"I think Seth is doing it, love. She's seemed no different to us so whatever he's doing to help her is working. If Seth's happy to handle it I think we should let him." I said honestly.

Seth's eyes shot open wide. _'Are you sure you trust me with this? I'm just a kid myself.' _He thought.

Bella turned to face him and put her hands on his cheeks. "I expect to be told if she doesn't improve." She stared him down. "Can you promise me that?"

He nodded, as best he could with his head in the hands of a vampire anyway. "Sure." He mumbled.

She kissed him then, let his cheeks go and kissed one. "I love you Seth and I need you to tell me if she isn't alright. But that goes for you too, right? If you need anything, or if you aren't alright, I need to know about that too."

"I love you too Bell's, I'll tell you, I promise." He whispered and hugged her tight.

She stood then. She put her hand to my cheek, got up on tip toe and kissed me at the corner of my mouth. "Don't be long, you owe me another dance." And then she was gone.

I stood there, mouth agape, and wondered how she knew I wanted some time alone with Seth? Because she's your wife, dumbass, I thought.

I waited until I could no longer hear her footfalls and then I went and sat by Seth on my rock. "I do trust you with this and you aren't a kid anymore Seth." I told him firmly.

He chuckled. "You saw me playing with dolls tonight, right?"

"I did." I laughed. "You've got a real flair for fashion." I chuckled. "But I'm serious. You stood up before and during the fight and since then you've been brilliant with Nessa. I have no doubt she would've needed therapy if she didn't have you."

"Do vampires have therapists?" He chortled. "There'd be money in that, I reckon."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Imagine getting someone like Emmett on your couch?"

He really laughed then. "Or Zuhar. You're sitting in your office and this guy comes in covered in tatts and looking like an axe murderer. Oh you're a vampire too? You'd crap your pants for sure." He laughed.

"It would be alright getting Jaz though, he'd tell you what you were feeling!" I chuckled.

"And Alice could tell you when you'd felt it!"

We both laughed then, a real 'deep in the gut' kind of laugh. It felt good. Very good. It felt good to know that he had Nessa's best interest at heart and that he was on top of whatever troubles she had. I could let him handle it, I trusted him and I trusted him with her.

"I love you, son." I whispered. He wasn't nearly as shocked as I thought he was going to be when I eventually told him that.

"I love you too, dad." He whispered back.

My heart nearly burst with pride. We sat for a few minutes in silence. Nothing more needed to be said. He felt good because he'd finally been able to tell me how he felt and I felt good because he'd been brave enough to say it.

"I'll race you back." I announced eventually.

"You can't beat me old man." He took off, not waiting for my retort. It was going to be a good one too, but it took all my strength and concentration to catch him. But I did.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading. They are really coming along now. Growing up, all of them, and becoming a family again. It's a joy to write them this way. **

**Please review, it makes it so much easier to write if I know the points I am trying to make are being understood. **


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10 – Year One – Operation Seduction

**Carlisle POV**

Something was up. It didn't take a genius, or a mind reader, to realize that the women were plotting. The minute Nessa had been taken off to bed the atmosphere changed.

The air fizzed with expectation when the wolves left, taking their human wives and children with them.

There was a core group too. Alice, our Rose, Charlotte and Bella were at the centre of whatever was going on. They flitted around the tent, and outside, and made sure that each of the women was 'ready' when the signal was given.

Other men had noticed, it wasn't just me. Edward looked worried and Alistair looked spooked but what interested me more was Jasper's reaction to all the tension that was building. Rather than looking sick or as though he were in pain as he usually did when something sinister was about to happen, he looked happy, almost drugged with happiness. I tried to relax. If whatever was going on didn't make Jasper apprehensive it wasn't something bad or evil. More than likely it was pure debauchery and something I could either ignore or hopefully never find out about. Hearing Edward and Bella in the forest two nights ago was more than I'd ever wanted to know about my children anyway.

Edward growled softly. I turned and threw him a half hearted smile. He'd read me just now and I shuddered again at the thought of what I'd heard. Thank god I hadn't seen anything. I'd skirted around where I thought they were and hunted further afield. But I'd never be able to put out of my mind what I'd heard. Ick, to quote Alice.

"Jeez Carlisle." Edward hissed from the other side of the room. He had the bridge of his nose between his fingertips and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

"Learn to be more quiet then." I hissed back playfully.

Esme giggled. Bloody woman would get me into more strife, if she could. She'd taken to behaving more and more her human age, rather than an eighty year old vampire. I guessed it was because we now had so many young people around us so constantly. From Seth and the younger wolves to Nessa and now Angel we were surrounded by a younger generation. I was surprised she didn't seem to be 'in' on whatever was being plotted tonight, she normally would be even if she was there only to provide a voice of reason when things got out of hand, which they usually did. But she'd been so tied up with council business I guessed she'd not had a chance to learn what this small but evil group were planning.

Nothing seemed to be happening, it was just a general change in the atmosphere in and around the house, but I knew that others felt it too. Liam looked concerned, Edward was on tenterhooks, Peter looked as though he was going to slip into a crouch at any moment and Aro was holding onto Tanya as though he was ready to whisk her away the instant something catastrophic occurred.

Alice skipped to my side then. "Calm down, it's nothing bad, honest." She whispered to me then kissed my cheek. Then she skipped back to her group and began nattering away again.

I tried to look for clues but didn't see anything out of the ordinary besides the strange behaviour of the women. I watched as pairs of them went inside and came back out again, but for the life of me I couldn't work out where they went or why. They didn't need to use the bathroom, they didn't look any different when they returned and they said nothing whilst they were gone. But sure enough, two buy two, all the women present made their way inside then back out again. It was like watching a choreographed dance routine.

A woman would sidle up to another, they'd share a 'look' and then they'd slip out of the tent or off the dance floor just as another pair would return from inside the house. I never heard a footstep on the glass stairs so knew they were staying downstairs for whatever they were in there to do. That pair would come out again and another pair would go in. This happened over and over until every woman had been inside. Even Esme had gone off with Olivia. I waited patiently for her to return.

The conversation amongst the men had ground to a halt by this time. Every man present had noticed the disappearance then return of the girls but nobody had asked what was going on. I watched as the pairs of women returned and it seemed as if they were purposely avoiding their mates. They waved or have a signal to them, but they didn't return to their sides. Instead they formed a large group at the front of the tent, leaving the men to congregate at the rear of it.

Esme returned with Olivia. She smiled at me as her eyes found mine and then she turned towards the centre of the circle of happily chatting women.

All at once, even though I saw and heard no signal, this circle of women began to break apart.

Siobhan strode purposefully towards Liam and grabbed his hand. "Dance with me, lover." She purred into his lips. He didn't say a word but he did drag in a mighty breath before allowing himself to be dragged out of the tent.

Marcus' eyes flew wide open as Renata flung her arms around his neck and begged him to take her onto the dance floor.

Aro actually coughed when Tanya approached him and slid her hand over his cheek. "Let's show the young ones some moves." She whispered into his astonished face.

Bella moved to Edward's side and took his hand in hers. I watched as she carefully drew his hand to her lips. He closed his eyes while she kissed his knuckles and when he drew in a breath his eyes flew open so wide I thought they might pop out of his skull. When she asked him to dance all he could do was nod.

One by one the men were entranced by their women and one by one they were led out of the tent and into a dance.

They all looked as though they'd been drugged or hypnotised. Melinda had dragged her coven mate Ethan onto the floor and he looked glassy eyed and stunned even though she wasn't his actual mate. The way she curved her body around his was anything but sisterly, however.

I was beginning to worry when Esme came to me. "They're fine." She whispered into my ear. "Stop worrying." She whispered again. She let her tongue dart out and I drew in a sharp breath when her venom stung me. That's when I knew why the men were behaving the way they were.

I sucked in another breath and took in her scent. Her aroused scent. I stepped back a little and looked into her sparkling, mischievous eyes. "What have you done?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

She tipped her head back and exposed her luscious throat to me. I wasted no time and buried my nose, tongue and teeth into her delicious flesh. She clutched at my hair and pulled my mouth down harder. I bit down and she moaned in pleasure. It was so unlike her to behave this way in company. It was filthy, utterly out of character and it had me hard in seconds. She confirmed my suspicions then. "I've lost my underwear, care to dance Doctor?" She licked her bottom lip as she asked.

I took in another gulp of air and knew that she was telling the truth. Her flavour settled on my tongue and made my head swim with desire. I looked around and saw that almost every man looked as overcome as I felt. They'd all done it. Every single woman had taken off her panties then asked her mate to dance. To what end I had no clue, and right then I didn't really give a damn either.

I grabbed Esme's hand and bore her off to the dance floor. I swung her out wide and revelled in the swirl of her twin scents as she floated her way back into my arms to begin the dance.

The first pair to leave the floor and run towards the forest was Rosie and Em. The second was Alistair and Zafrina. Half a song later I dragged Esme off the floor around the side of the house and into the driveway. "Run Mrs Cullen." I hissed at her.

"Yes doctor." She purred as she began her stride.

There was no way I was getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar only a mile from home. We'd go to the hospital and play doctor in my office.

**Romania**

"Dearest, you can tell me." Dominique whispered.

Daria's head whipped up at the use of the endearment. She knew he felt something for her. She wasn't completely oblivious to his hovering, but he'd never addressed her as anything other than Daria before now. More confusing still was his actual statement. She'd given no indication that she had anything she wished to, or needed to, discuss with him. And yet he'd asked if she could.

Their walk to the town had been as it usually was. Quiet and calm and done at a steady pace. They hadn't spoken at all during the walk, but this was not unusual. Dom rarely spoke until Daria was finished her people watching in the park and they had moved on to the cafe where they would share their evening meal. He would speak to the waitress and order their meal and their beverages. The waitress would smile at them both and bring two tiny cups of hot coffee and only then would he address Daria, and only after she had taken her first sip of coffee. He usually enquired how she found the coffee. She would reply politely and say that it was good. He had never started their evening meal this way before.

She considered his statement for a few minutes before replying, as carefully as she could. "Can I, Dom?" It was the first time she had called him anything, let alone used the shortened version of his name.

He smirked across the lip of his coffee cup at her boldness. For anyone else the use of their actual names in conversation would've been accomplished at their first meeting, but Daria wasn't just anyone and their meeting hadn't occurred in the usual way. To him she was a princess and she was his responsibility. He knew he was crossing a line by speaking with her at all, using an endearment as he had was tantamount to treason. But he was willing to take the risk if it meant she would confide in him in any small way.

He sipped his coffee and replaced the cup onto its saucer carefully. He was going to have to take many risks if he was to learn anything at all about her. He believed she was worth every single one of them. So with a short intake of breath to steady his nerves he reached across the table and took her fingers between his. She sighed at the contact and his heart soared. Staring into her eyes he whispered his answer.

"I'd like to know, if you'll tell me."

Now it was Daria's turn to suck in a deep breath. She looked down at their intertwined fingers and then back up to his face. She knew she must warn him what his knowing her secrets could mean. She steeled herself for him to flee. "It is dangerous for me to tell you, and also for you to know. Though Raul has given his consent." She told him firmly.

He thought on her choice of words for a long moment. It was obvious to him now that she did want to tell him, but she was concerned for his safety if he knew. His was a dangerous job to begin with. His protection of her and her brother and their assets was a constant worry for him, a little further danger would do him no harm. So it was to the second part of her statement that he shifted his concentration. Whatever it was she was to share with him Raul had given his permission for her to do so. That meant that Raul would know he'd been told. So it was a fair assumption that his reaction to the news would be reported to her brother. And then Dominique understood.

"I will not betray you, no matter what you share with me. I have pledged myself to your family." He stared at her as he said it and he hoped she could see the sincerity with which he spoke.

Daria slipped her hand out of his and sipped her coffee. Dominique did the same. They kept eye contact over their coffee cups and when both had been set back in their respective saucers Daria leaned slightly forward in her seat. "Not here." She whispered.

He inclined his head to let her know he understood then sat back in his seat to await the delivery of their meal. Silence settled around them uneasily. It was the first time the tension between them was strained and not borne of mutual attraction. Neither was eager to have the secret shared. Daria because she feared his reaction, Dom because he feared what she had to say.

When the waitress arranged their plates and bowls on the table they began to eat. It was a silent understanding that they'd eat then return to the castle. Whatever needed to be said would be said there, safe inside the gates and out of the earshot of humans.

Raul returned to his chamber in time to see Daria and Dominique exit their shared taxi. Their usual routine was completed like clockwork. They'd leave at three and return at nine. Dominique with his hand at the small of her back would lead her through the courtyard and into the foyer. He would escort her to her chamber, wait a moment until he was sure she was safely inside it, and then retreat to his own rooms on the second floor.

That night something was different. They broke with their routine, and as Raul crept up the staircase and into the corridor outside his sisters door, he could hear them speaking softly inside her chamber.

He listened for only a moment.

"Dearest, share with me your burden." He heard Dominique whisper.

He heard the soft intake of her breath as she prepared to expose herself to him fully, and then the quiet trembling voice as she took her first steps towards full disclosure.

"I am not what you think I am..."

Raul left then. Silently he wished Daria all luck, hoping that Dominique was indeed worthy of the secret she was about to reveal.

He left the castle through the east gate and ran towards the forest at the far edge of his lands. Running had become a not often enough pleasure for Raul. That night he ran for the sheer joy of the run itself and to escape the happiness he was sure he would confront at daybreak when he returned to his castle.

His sister had found a mate and he was now truly alone.

**Jasper POV**

"Darlin, what have you done?" I hissed as I swung my wife around the dance floor.

It was a playful hiss though, I knew she could see the laughter in my eyes as I spoke, and I could feel the way she shivered and shook in my arms. I'd never felt such an overwhelming wave of lust before, it was taking most of my mental strength and all of my concentration to just continue dancing with her.

She was wearing the most gorgeous mock innocent smirk I'd ever seen grace her lips. Her eyes were sparkling with mirth, her body was alive with desire. "I've done nothing, sir." She purred as she closed the distance between our faces and kissed me hurriedly on my lips.

She swung away from me again then, taking with her the most pungent portion of her scent. It would return to my nose and lips when she returned fully to my arms and I hovered by her as she completed her turn. I pulled her up against my chest hard when she came back to me. A soft 'oomph' escaped her glossy lips as her chest met mine. Before she could untangle herself and leave my embrace again I clamped my arms around her, holding her hostage there.

"Are you bare? Are they all bare?" I asked her, dipping the very end of my tongue into the hollow at the base of her exposed throat.

She wound her fingers into my hair and held my head steady. "Bite." She instructed. I obliged willingly. My teeth nipped her gently, never allowing myself to mark her. I had enough scars for the two of us and although any mark I gave her now would fade in a few days, I was loathe to mark her that way, despite knowing she craved it from me. "Bite harder, sir." She implored me.

I shook my head as it was encased in her trembling fingers. "I will not, ma'am." I replied, my familiar retort bringing her familiar response. A deep intake of breath as disappointment flooded her system.

I stood to my full height again and looked down into her now hooded eyes. "Are you bare?" I growled softly, ignoring the renewed wave of lust as it rolled over me.

She smirked again. "I am."

I closed my eyes and drank her in. I wet my lips and waited for her flavour to settle there. Each step we took within the dance made her scent swirl around me. She floated back into my arms and we took the next few steps of the foxtrot. Its quick steps intensified her scent but also bore me away from it as it trailed us around the floor, it was infuriating and arousing in a way I'd never experienced. Knowing she was bare, that her beautiful soft flesh was exposed under her dress, that I was so close to her and could not have her made my head ache and my gut churn.

I groaned when Eleazar and Carmen ran off the dance floor and away into the night. The inhuman rush of pure desire their departure created as they began their run crippled my senses. I was on overload. Edward was cringing in pain at the thoughts of those around us, but his lust for Bella was as strong and as invading for me as that of any of the remaining couples.

I'd not last too much longer. My thirst would ignite soon because I would be unable to stand the emotional surges for much longer, and I'd have to run.

"Are they all?" I growled at Alice as she once again returned to my arms after a complicated move that took her away from me for seconds at a time.

She nodded but said nothing. I groaned with shock and desire. This had been planned, well planned. All the women had done this to their mates for a reason and I wasn't leaving the circle of dancing until I knew what that reason was. I just knew I had to speed up finding out or I would burst out of my trousers.

"Why?" I asked her as I pulled her hard up against my chest as the last strains of the music trailed off.

She swung away from me and stooped into a low curtsy, as we the tradition at the end of the dance. I bowed lowly and then met her eyes as we both stood to height. She grinned and tossed her head in a nod over my left shoulder.

I stepped to her side and returned Alice to the waltz position within my arms. The music began again and as we took the first steps of the waltz I looked over to my left. Benjamin and Tia, Rennie and Anna, Randall and Kate. All dancing, all just as in lust as we were. Her explanation made no sense.

"Why?" I whispered again as she tilted her head slightly so I could bury my nose in her throat.

I heard Edward groan loudly and looked across Alice' shoulder to where he was dancing with Bella. His eyes were blazing and he was staring straight at Alice, mild anger began to replace his desire and I balked, faltered the next three steps and pulled Alice to a stop at the edge of the dance floor.

She looked up at me through her lashes and smiled. "Watch them." She nodded quickly at the floor and I looked to see whom she meant. "Feel them." She told me as she took my hand and settled us against the railing.

As each couple twirled past us I concentrated on them as much as I could. Benjamin and Tia were in lust with each other and totally oblivious to anyone else. Edward had given up his anger and had returned to unbridled desire for Bella. Melinda and Ethan were curved around each other as though they were going to devour each other right there. Liam and Siobhan looked dangerously close to shedding their clothing where they stood. Randall and Kate...Ahh.

Randall looked as though he was in pain. He was the only vampire in the dancing group that wasn't enjoying the women's prank. He was dancing, and doing a fine job, but the frustration and pain I felt from him didn't fit with everyone else. Kate was as all the other women were, in lust with her mate, but Randall was fighting it and where his desire should be he was instead filled with pain and self loathing. I looked to Alice. She had her eyes closed and her body jerked a little as her vision came to her. When she opened her eyes she was grinning even wider than before.

She grabbed for my hand and pulled me to her. "My work here is done. Run, sir." She licked her bottom lip and then fled down the steps and into the trees beside the pool house.

I wasted no time trying to work out what the fuck had just occurred, I just ran. I wanted her like I'd never wanted her before. I wanted her so badly I thought I might just let her persuade me to sink my teeth into her luscious flesh a little harder than usual.

**EPOV**

I was torn between wanting to murder my sister for setting this up and buying her something wickedly expensive to say thank you for what was surely going to be a monumental fuck!

I shook myself then. Since when did I think that way? Since when did I view my sex life that way? Since fucking Alice and by the sounds of it Rosie and Charlotte had a hand in it too, had devised an evil plot to drive every single mated male insane with desire tonight.

Bella was sublime in my arms as we danced but her scent was maddening. Jasper was fighting with his twin lusts and trying desperately to work out what the fuck was going on around him. He felt the lust and the carnal cravings of us all and normally, with just one couple feeling that way, he could channel the energy of that and use it for himself. But tonight, with sixty horny vampires all desperate to get inside their mate come hell or high water, he was fighting a losing battle with his restraint. They'd run soon, as soon as Alice explained to him why she'd instigated this, they'd tear off through the trees like other couples had.

I listened to Alice' thoughts, and to her words, as she tried to subtly explain to her husband why every woman on the dance floor was naked underneath their dresses. At first I thought it was just a way to spice things up now the children had been put to bed, but there seemed no point to that. Vampires were carnal creatures, we took pleasure in each other as often as we could. Manufacturing just one more reason to do that seemed over the top, even for Alice.

So when she asked Jaz to watch, to feel the couples as they past them by, I did too.

I still couldn't decipher the reasoning for myself when Jasper's thoughts began screaming in exaltation. He'd worked it out!

It was for Kate and Randall's benefit. Why I had no idea, but now that I knew who it was about I could find out the rest quite easily.

I waited until Jasper was away, chasing Alice through the trees and then I twirled Bella to the other side of the dance floor so that we were dancing behind Randall and Kate in the formation.

They looked content in each other's arms, no different to any other couple, but inwardly they were warring with each other.

Kate was chanting her hope that Randall would want her now and Randall was chanting his pain at wanting her so badly. I didn't get it. It made no sense. They were mates, why couldn't he have her. They were to be married, it was obvious they wanted each other, so I couldn't isolate the problem.

I concentrated harder, looking for any clue that would alert me to the problem. Randall grimaced as Kate swished out away from him and then returned to his dance embrace. His thoughts were filled with her scents, his senses flooded with the knowledge that she too was bare under her beautiful dress. He wanted her, like he'd never wanted another, but he was determined not to have her until they were officially wed.

I cringed when I heard how resolved he was to uphold that last bastion of morality he held so dear. It was important to him that they be married, properly bound to each other, before he took from her body. I understood that, I'd once felt the same. I was at a crossroads.

Bella put her finger to my chin and turned my head so that she could see me more clearly. "It's their business Edward, you can't step in. If he won't then he won't." She whispered as she got up onto her toes and kissed me softly at the corner of my mouth.

I smiled. "I love you Mrs Cullen." I told her softly.

"As I love you Mr Cullen." She whispered in reply.

The music came to its logical conclusion and when Bella returned to her full height after dipping low in her curtsy I pulled her to me and crushed her against my chest. "Come away with me my beauty?" I asked her quietly.

She grinned and nodded. "On one condition." She giggled.

I'd give her anything she wanted and she knew it. "Name it."

"I get to choose where we run to." She dipped her chin slightly and I got the impression that should she still be able to blush she would have.

I grinned, "Done. Lead on."

**Randall POV**

A more painful form of torture I could not imagine. I had the love of my existence in my arms and was surrounded by my family and friends and I was miserable. Achingly, frustratingly miserable.

I was going to have to leave a mark on her fragile self esteem, again. I was going to reject her, again. How many times she'd forgive me I did not know. I could only hope she loved me enough to try.

"Katie, sweetheart, stop." I begged her. I'd stopped dancing but she was tugging on my hand to get me to move on.

The music still rang out, other couples still danced though many had fled by this time. Katie wanted to continue with the plan she'd enacted, but I was done. Spent. My resolve was paper thin, my desire for her was ready to burst out of me and I was afraid. So very afraid of being hurt by her. Not physically. Physically we were equally matched in every way, but emotionally.

She came to a final stop, bumping up against me when she realized I had no intention of restarting the dance. "What is it?" She asked, eyes wide with worry.

I sighed and ran a hand across my chin, trying to form the words in my brain that would soften this blow. But even as I searched for them I could see her face begin to crumble. I was prepared for the choked sob she barked out from between her ruby lips but nothing had primed me for the gut wrenching agony of watching her face turn from wanton desire to abject horror as she stared at me.

"Katie, please, let me explain." I begged, holding onto her elbow and leading her from the centre of the dance floor and down the little steps onto the lawn.

She reefed her elbow from my grasp and turned on me. Venom flew from her lips, her fists clenched at her sides. "You don't want me." She hissed. "Even after all that, you still don't want me. I hate you Randall Kade, I hate you for making me love you and want you." She bellowed before crumbling to the ground at my feet.

The music stopped then and I knew that we were now the object of everyone's attention. Thankfully Liam took charge and led everyone into the tent to give us some privacy. A few couples ran off into the night, but most of them returned to the tent.

There would be no privacy while we stood in the yard. I bent down and bundled her up into my arms, holding her against me while she cried. I ran with her until I could figure out where to run with her to. I was staying in a hotel in Port Angeles but she was staying in the Cullen house. I could take her to the hotel but I'd be forced into a confined space with her and her scent and I had no idea if I could resist that at close quarters. Being at the Cullen house wasn't an option either. So I ran to Edward's cottage. I'd endure his wrath a hundred times over if I could fix this between Katie and me once and for all. So I took her there.

She whimpered and sobbed the whole way, making my gut clench in pain with each sound. I whispered my love to her as I ran but she batted at my chest with her hands as though she didn't believe me, or didn't want to believe that I loved and adored her. She had the idea in her head that if I loved her enough to marry her I should want her now. And I did. But that didn't make it right.

I should have known that Alice would've seen pretty much all of what was about to go down, but I was still surprised to see the note taped to the front door of Ed's cottage.

Holding Katie with one hand I tore it off and held it with the other.

'There's a key on the sill above. Leave Edward to Bella. The fires lit. She'll forgive you if you're brutally honest. Good luck, Alice.'

I sighed and reached for the key, right where she said it would be. I unlocked the front door and took Katie into the living room. The fire crackled and creaked as the logs settled. It had obviously only been lit recently, in the last fifteen minutes or so, which would've been right around the time I'd seen Jasper and Alice run off from the dancing. I lowered Katie onto the floor in front of it and then I sat beside her and held her tightly.

"Katie you have to let me explain this. We need to talk about this, once and for all I need to tell you what I want and why I want it that way." I told her.

She sniffed once again and then she sat up, folding her legs beneath her. She swiped her hand across her eyes though no tears would ever fall. I tucked a stray hair behind her ear and tried to smile at her. She grimaced and shook her head. "You don't want me." She whispered sadly.

I snorted a laugh which startled her a bit because she jumped slightly. It was awkward and nerve wracking to have to talk to her like this, face to face, with no way to hide my eyes, but I had to do it. I had to make her understand.

"I want you like nobody has ever wanted anyone else before. I know I've told you that before and I know you don't believe me." I said firmly. "But it's true. I do want you, how could I not? You're so beautiful, so perfect in every way. And that's why I can't have you yet." I told her. I lowered myself until our foreheads were touching. Her sad eyes looked at mine and I sighed. "I gave my virginity away when I was still a human Katie. To some silly girl at a party when I was seventeen. It was a quick grope in a dark corner and then we slipped out of the party for a quick hump in a tool shed. It was gross and I wasn't very good at it and I can't even remember her name." I admitted.

She giggled slightly at the way I'd told the story but it was still the truth. It was also true that I couldn't remember the girls name, her features were long since lost to my cavernous memory. She could've been any of a million women in a crowd, but she'd be seventy nine now and most likely gone from this earth.

"You and your sisters have never hidden the fact that you've enjoyed the company of human men so I know we are both coming to this marriage with histories, and that's fine, but when I give myself to you I want it to mean something more." I told her. I sighed again thinking I was doing such a shitty job of explaining myself to her.

I moved back a bit and waited until she had sat back up too, then I took her hand in mine. "I fell in love with you the day of the fight Katie. I'd seen you so many times of course, but that day, when all around us was chaos, there you were. So lovely and so serene and just what I'd always been searching for. I've not known love as a vampire. I don't think I've ever truly felt desire since I was changed, not if the way I feel now is any indication anyway. I love you so much I ache from wanting you, I need you, and I want to be near you every minute of every day. But this, this one thing, this is the one thing I want to be just for us, I want to wait to give myself to you as a vampire because I've never given that part of myself to anyone, ever."

Her eyes widened then. "Are you telling me you've never made love as a vampire?"

I grinned then. A short burst of laughter escaped my lips before I could control it. "Yep. That's exactly what I'm telling you, love." I was embarrassed to have to admit it, but there it was. For all intents and purposes I was a virgin, again. Sort of.

"Holy shit." She giggled. She covered her mouth with her fingers but didn't fight the laugh. "Oh Randall I had no idea." She flung herself at me then, I caught her around the waist and fought the urge to throw her onto the rug and just have her. Her scent was so potent, so powerful, every move she made made it swirl around me. I could taste her. My head swam. "Sorry." She pulled back and sat back down. She took my hand again. "I never knew. I'd seen you flirt with almost everyone and just assumed. I'm so sorry, it was stupid of me to think that. So, you do want me then? You've just never done it as a vampire and it's sort of like you're a virgin again, so it will be really special? Is that right?" She asked, eyes shining brightly again.

I smiled as much as I could without cringing at the stupidity of my explanation. "That's right. God, I sound like such a pussy, I know." I ran a hand through my hair in embarrassment.

She attacked me again then, but this time she was more careful. She did fling herself across my body and we did roll backwards onto the floor, but her movements had changed. She was careful, more respectful of me and my personal space. She didn't attack my mouth, she kissed me softly at the corner of my lips. "I've never made love to another vampire Randall. You'll be my one and only, ever." She whispered.

That wasn't going to help. Jesus H Christ nailed up on the fucking cross. How was a bloke supposed to stay chaste when hearing shit like that? I groaned involuntarily and kissed her back, not quite so carefully.

Then she was batting at my chest again with her little fists. She pulled herself up off me and sat back down. She smoothed out her skirt and straightened her hair a little. "Sorry." She whispered. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard. Oh Randall our wedding night is going to be amazing, so much more special. I can't wait to be your wife." She gasped then and jumped up to her feet. She tucked the skirt of her dress around her, holding the fabric together with her hands over her knees. "Oh god, I'm so sorry about tonight. God you must hate me." I could tell she was uncomfortable now, knowing I knew she was bare beneath her dress. I reached for her hand and tugged until she let the fabric go.

"Don't hide from me." I begged her, pulling her down into my lap. "Knowing you want me enough to go to these lengths...god...you have no idea what it does to me knowing you are naked under there." I whispered against her cheek.

She shivered. "We can get married quick, right?" She giggled as I began nipping at her throat and earlobe.

"Mmmhmm." I agreed. I slid my tongue into the shell of her ear and let my venom cool a little before I bit down on her throat again. "How quick?" I whispered against her throat.

She let her head loll back and I took a good mouthful of her delicious skin between my lips and sucked hard. "Quick, really quick." She gasped as I bit down.

I trailed tiny kisses up and down her throat and groaned as another waft of her warm arousal flooded my mouth and nose. "Two days." I moaned against her lips as I pulled her face back to mine. "You've got two days. We'll do it here. Two days."

"Yes." She sighed just before I slid my tongue between her lips.

**Romania**

Raul summoned them both to the study before first light.

They looked exhausted. Daria's eyes were ringed with red from crying and Dominique looked as though he'd fought a war. In a way Raul guessed that he had. An internal war had been fought. It was obvious from the way Dom offered his hand to Raul across the desk that he would continue to protect and serve the family, but what he'd had to hear during the night had taken its toll on the huge man.

His weary face looked haggard and drawn. His eyes, normally a clear piercing blue, were sunken and dull as he ushered Daria into the offered seat opposite Raul. Dom chose to stand behind Daria's chair and he put a supportive hand on her shoulder as they waited for Raul to speak.

Raul gave his attention to his sister first. "You have told him?" He asked for clarification.

"I have." She whispered. He could see the slight tremble to her countenance as she sat staring at her brother. She looked afraid.

"All?" Raul asked.

"All." She agreed.

He looked to Dominique then. "Have you agreed to keep this secret?" He asked firmly.

"I have." Dominique answered in a steady voice that belied his roiling emotions.

Raul looked back to Daria then. "Have you chosen him as your mate?" He asked.

He felt less and less like her brother and more and more like her father as he waited for her answer.

"I have." She smiled softly. "He has given his word, Rabi."

Raul's gut clenched when she used her pet name for him. It snapped him back to the present and he smiled across the table at them both. He stood and offered his hand to his former security advisor. "I wish you both well. Dabi," he used his pet name for her and waited for her to smile, "Leave us, there is much to discuss."

She nodded and before she left she reached for Dom's hand and squeezed it. She felt the slight tremble in it and sought his eyes for a second. "I will be in the kitchen." She smiled and left them then.

When he could no longer hear her footsteps he waved a hand for Dom to sit in the chair she'd just vacated. "She will outlive you." He stated matter of factly.

Dominique dragged in a ragged breath and fought for control of his emotions. He lost the fight almost instantly. He threw himself forward and put his head into his hands and cried like a child. "I've only just found her." He wailed.

Raul sighed. It had been a brutal thing to say to a man who had only just learned what his future held. But Raul had felt it only right to say it none the less. Dominique deserved his utmost honesty right now.

But Raul had no idea how to comfort the man. He had no experience with emotion. He had never felt sympathy or empathy for any other living creature other than his aunt and his sister, and before the war his other family, but he felt himself wanting desperately to ease this man's suffering.

So he did the only thing he knew how to do. He offered him a chance.

"Eleazar will arrive tomorrow. I will seek his counsel. He will teach me how to perform the transformation. If you so wish it, you too can live forever."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, it's a bit lighter in feel than some of the previous ones and I so enjoyed writing it. Please review if you've found something you liked, and also if you found something that's annoyed you. Allow me the chance to fix it, please. **


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11 – Year One – Meeting Greed Head On

**BPOV**

Edward pretended to be pissed off about finding Randall and Kate in full lip lock mode when we finally made it back to the cottage after the christening.

We'd left Nessa asleep in her bed at the big house and Seth asleep on the floor beside her. I was ashamed to admit I'd not given him another thought once Nessa had gone off to sleep. He'd made his way upstairs at some point and I could only hope it had been before all the vampire women shed their panties.

"What the fuck?" Edward had boomed as we'd stepped into our living room and caught Randall and Kate in a compromising position.

Not exactly the compromising position she was hoping for mind you, but they looked pretty cosy lying on our rug in front of our fireplace sucking on each other's tongues. Thank god we hadn't collected Nessa.

Randall had jumped to his feet and stumbled and stammered his way through an awkward explanation but eventually it had been Kate who'd smoothed it over.

"Oh for crying out loud shut up Ed." She'd shouted to stop Edward from shouting at Randall. "We came here for some privacy, to sort out our problems. We're sorry we didn't ask first. Now, seeing as it's not quite light outside yet why don't you piss off to your room and leave us alone for a bit longer?" She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

He muttered something about 'older fucking cousins think they can tell me what to do in my own home' but he did exactly as she'd told him to do and went right by them into our bedroom.

"Are you coming Isabella or have you turned into a voyeur?" He said darkly when I didn't follow immediately.

"He'll get over it." I giggled at Kate. "I'm so glad you two are okay. Alice says we're having a wedding day after tomorrow?" I asked her.

She smiled widely. "We are."

"Isabella!" Edward growled from our bedroom.

I rolled my eyes and nodded down the hall. "Make yourselves at home." I told them and went down the hall. Edward was sitting on the edge of the bed with his shoes kicked off and his shirt untucked from his trousers. "God Edward, that was so rude. They didn't do anything, they haven't touched anything, they're family for Christ's sake." I hissed at him as he reached for me.

I stood between his knees and waited for him to finish undoing the buttons on his dress shirt. There were only three left, I'd ripped the others off when we were in the forest earlier. He was a bit of a mess actually. He had dirt and bits of twig and leaves in his hair and the back of his jacket was a wreck from having been shoved up against a tree trunk while I molested him.

I'd won the right to choose where we ran to last night and I'd steered him towards our meadow as fast as I could. I let him have me up against the tree with our initials carved in it, and then I'd taken him as he leaned up against it. It had been a hell of a night.

I had no idea where his handkerchief went and we'd spent twenty minutes looking for his left sock. To no avail either. One day someone was going to go hiking through the woods and find the hundreds of items of clothing we'd all lost in the trees over the years. It was mind boggling the extent of our losses.

I watched as he peeled the ruined shirt off his body and sighed when he threw it to the floor. He looked up at me then, a sly smirk on his lips. "I should shower, I'm a mess." He grinned and winked at me.

I ran my hands through his hair and heard him purr. I stepped further forward until his nose and lips were at my belly. "I'm not exactly in pristine condition myself. You ruined my dress." I giggled softly.

The tie from the dress was long gone. He'd used it to bind my hands together and had then looped it over a branch so I was forced to hold steady while he took me. Of course I could easily slip my hands out of the tie, but there was no fun in that. The hem of my dress hung as though it was a rag that had been used to clean up a garage floor. It hung in tatters. The neckline was stretched and one sleeve was torn along the shoulder line. I had no idea where my shoes were. I think I lost those before we even got to the tree.

Edward chuckled against my stomach, making it flutter with desire. "You ruined my shirt." He countered.

He slid his hands into the dress and pulled the two halves apart so he could kiss and suckle my belly.

"I could replace the buttons." I giggled.

He reached down and plucked his shirt from the floor and held it out so I could see the tears in it. "I think it's beyond having its buttons replaced. These tears here coincide remarkably closely with the exact shape and width of your fingernails." He growled. He threw the shirt to the floor again and then reached for my hands. He kissed my dirty knuckles and then uncurled my fingers. "Had I been human you'd have my skin under these." He hissed and kissed my fingers again.

I moaned involuntarily. "We need to shower." I whispered.

He looked up at me through his lashes and grinned. "We do, do we?" He chuckled and stood. Holding me by the shoulders he bent and kissed my exposed shoulder as he slid my dress off me completely. "If I promise to be nicer to our guests can I have you in the shower Isabella?" He whispered against my throat.

I didn't bother answering and I couldn't give a shit if he was nicer to our guests either. I pulled him into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind us.

**Alice POV**

Forty-eight hours to plan and host a wedding? Were they trying to kill me?

The vision came to me at four in the morning while I was lying on the soft sand at our little beach, my husband naked and palely perfect lying across my belly. I must have shuddered when the vision came because he chuckled and then asked what I'd seen.

I wanted to jump up, run home and get my clipboard but I knew he'd object and be offended if I did. So I bit the inside of my lip and told him calmly and carefully that we would be hosting a wedding on Tuesday evening.

He laughed so loudly at me I had to pull out a 'Bella pout', but it was to no avail. He only laughed harder.

"You are absolutely dying to be back there now, aren't you darlin?" He chuckled as he sat up and began to dust himself down.

"I am not." I replied belligerently.

He turned to face me, magnificent smirk on his lips, "Oh you are so naughty miss. You are so too, you are fairly busting to get your sweet little ass back to that house and fetch that god forsaken clipboard and start ordering the others around. I can see it in your eyes." He teased.

It was no good hiding it from him. He'd known me for seventy years, he knew me inside and out, and he could feel my excitement to boot. I folded my arms across my breasts and huffed. "You're so mean to me."

He got onto all fours then and as he stalked towards me I lowered myself back onto the sand, happy to receive his body with mine. "I was mean to you?" He asked, a playful smirk on his lips. "Was I mean to you when I took you in the water?" He bent and kissed me on the lips. "Was I mean when I had you on the rocks?" He bent and took the flesh under my ear in his mouth and sucked hard. "Would it be mean if I had you right here on the sand?" He asked.

I wound my arms and legs around him and held him tightly. "No." I whispered into his throat.

I felt his teeth softly at first and dared to hope. He'd never bitten me, not really, not the way I wanted him to. In all our decades together he refused to mark me, refused to share his venom with me. I knew it was because he thought he had enough scars for the two of us already, but these were the scars given freely and taken with pride and passion from one mate to another. They wouldn't be battle scars.

Bella was covered in them, from head to toe, and she wore them with pride and dignity. They faded of course, a few days and they were nothing but a feint trace of silver against her pale skin, but she knew they were there and so did Edward. His neck and chest was appalling. Dozens of bright silver double crescents marked his flawless skin from his ears to his ribs. And as emo as Edward could be he never cared who saw them. I knew for a fact he had been really proud of the first one he got, he showed us all on purpose, made Emmett gag. Rosie had them in places I didn't know it was possible to get them. Emmett frequently turned up looking as though he'd gone ten rounds with a newborn but I knew he loved the marks too.

Hell, I'd seen Esme after a big night of playing doctors and nurses and her neck and shoulders often looked as though she should march right back into Carlisle's office and demand he fix what he'd broken!

But not my Jaz, he'd always refused. We'd talked about it, outside the bedroom, on lots of occasions but he wouldn't be swayed. Yet, I always had hope.

What bothered me most about it was his denial of what he was, a vampire. Vampires bit. It was as fundamental to us as our thirst. I wanted to bite him, I wanted to mark him and I wanted him to like that I'd done it. I wanted to share my venom with him. It was not mutual.

I understood his reasoning but I was disappointed that he wouldn't. Bella's tattoo had brought him as close as he'd ever come to doing it. The day she'd gotten that and he'd felt the lust it had instilled in Edward he'd almost caved in and bitten me, seriously bitten me. But he'd been able rein in his desire at the time and it had never seriously come up again since.

I thought maybe after the fight was done it might, but the lust that he'd felt after winning the war had nothing to do with his need to possess me, make me his. It was about relief. Relief from the emotional upheaval he'd been forced to endure for so long. Relief from the burning torment of not knowing if we'd survive and relief that I was okay.

So when I felt the first tiny sting at my throat I jumped about three feet in the air and he leapt off me with a howl.

"Jesus I'm so sorry honey!" He came towards where I now sat on my ass on the sand with his hands outstretched as though he was surrendering to me.

I started giggling. I couldn't help it. The situation was so fucked up!

He closed his eyes to drink in my emotional state and when he opened them again he matched my smile.

I tried to rein in my giggles but I just couldn't. It was so stupid. I'd waited over half a century to feel it and when I do I jump away and then get the giggles.

"Sorry Jazzy, you caught me off guard. That's all. I've waited so long for you to do that." I heard the change in my voice as my desire reignited. "Come here." I held my arms out for him and he stepped into them.

We lay back down on the sand and this time, when his lips sucked the flesh of my throat into his mouth I held my breath and concentrated hard on the sensation. When his teeth began to nip gently the knot in my belly began to unravel and in its place there grew a longing, a dark and heavy longing to feel his bite.

"Oh darlin." He groaned against my throat.

And then he bit down and I shuddered as the orgasm ripped through me.

**Romania**

It felt as though a shift had occurred in the castle that morning.

Raul stood at the windows at the western edge and looked out over the fields beyond the castle wall. A dense fog blanketed the normally rolling green that greeted him most mornings. It was still too early for the workers to be out there but the servants and chefs inside the castle were already hard at work.

The smell of bread and boiling oats wafted up to the upper levels as successive groups ate and then went off to their various jobs within the castle grounds. Daria and Dominique would soon make their way into the kitchen for their morning meal. Raul would never again hunt with his sister, not now that she had chosen to leave her vampire side behind her and live a human life.

But Dominique? If Dominique was turned, what then for Daria? He had no idea if Dominique wanted to be turned. He'd only just learned it was possible, Raul doubted he'd have had the necessary time to understand and choose as yet. Daria wasn't venomous, she'd known that since she was small, so it would be up to Raul.

Eleazar would have to be consulted. Raul didn't know what he was doing wrong but he was sure that Eleazar would know.

He'd already told his aunt that the third brother would be arriving tomorrow but she had shown no interest, she had just told him to get out, as she always did. She was going six or seven weeks between feeding and was weak and unresponsive the longer she dragged it out. She was also increasingly reluctant to feed from those Raul brought to her. It was as though her thirst was dying with her heart.

Raul had begun to think that the final death might be the only answer to his aunt's agony. It may be kinder then to watch her suffer through this agony. But he also knew that he couldn't do it. He'd never consider it, and he knew he would feel eternally guilty for regretting that it had not been achieved in the clearing in America. Sparing her life had been no great gift, it had created misery the likes of which Raul had never seen.

When his and Daria's mother Elená had been killed by the werewolf they'd watched their father mourn her loss but it had been nothing like what Ana was going through now. Stefan had grieved and grieved deeply for his mate's loss but he'd also, after several months, turned his rage into productivity. He increased the guard three fold and had worked tirelessly to train the new members. He'd thrown himself into the farms and had immersed himself so deeply in castle life and the lives of his children and remaining family that after a few years he seemed his old self again. Raul hadn't known then that he'd harboured a secret desire to drive werewolves to extinction but it hadn't taken long for Stefan to realize that dream and he once again settled into a routine of family, farms and the castle.

Ana's condition was yet another thing Raul hoped Eleazar could help him with.

Raul was still standing by the windows pondering all this when a soft knock came at his door. Daria was on the other side of it. "Come in Dabi." He called softly.

She came right to him, slid her hand into his and together they stood looking out at the rapidly filling courtyard. The tourists began to arrive with the morning sun and the noise would only grow louder as more and more of them filtered into the castle to see the public rooms.

"Thank you." Daria whispered softly.

"For what?" Raul asked.

"For allowing me Dom." She whispered reverently.

Raul stiffened infinitesimally but Daria registered it anyway. "I am not your keeper, Dabi." Raul said affectionately, trying to cover his shock. Why Daria thought she required his permission he did not know or understand. He had never given her that impression and he never would.

"No, you aren't. You are my brother. But you are also lord of this castle and all its lands." She said quietly.

Still hand in hand he turned to her. "I am not your sire Dabi, I am not your father and I am not your keeper. Your life is your own. Live it. You deserve happiness like everyone else, if Dominique makes you happy then you should live it with him."

She smiled then. That same radiant smile she'd shown him in the kitchens yesterday. "Thank you Rabi." She giggled slightly at the end, knowing how silly it was for them to use the childish names they had for each other. "Was your meeting with him business then?" She asked cautiously.

She had never delved into the running of the castle before and didn't particularly want to now, but she had seen the red rimmed eyes and hunched shoulders on Dominique when he'd joined her in the kitchens and she wanted to know what had upset him.

Raul sighed. There were no lies between the siblings so he told her the truth. "No, not business. Come, sit with me." He tugged her hand and she followed him to the low lounge to the side of the room. "He's afraid, Dabi. Not of you, but of what it will all mean for your future." He told her as kindly as possible.

Daria nodded. She understood that. It made sense to her that Dom would be worried, she was too. As hard as it would be for him to leave her, and he ultimately would because he was mortal, she too had the burden of knowing she would remain.

"I know. I told him that it was okay to go away, to not be near me if he couldn't cope with the loss later, but he shouted and told me he would stay." She hung her head.

Raul smiled a rueful smile. "He's a good man Dabi. Very loyal, very strong. A good protector for you. He knows his own mind and heart, if he says he's staying then he'll stay, I have no doubt."

She nodded. She knew that for herself too. "I know. But I feel terribly guilty. I am dooming him to the loss. He comes to me knowing we can never be normal. We can have no family, no normal life. He has to give up that for himself to be with me."

Raul growled then. Low and long. It startled Daria and she sat up straighter and stared at her brother. He was not prone to outward shows of emotion and it shocked her to see the anger on his face. "No normal family? No normal life? Daria, what is this?" He waved his hands around the room. "We are a family, are we not? We live a life like everyone else. We work, we play, we fight and we love. That is what they do, the humans, we do it for much longer it is true, but it is as they are. You see what you are as something to be sorry for, but Dominique sees it as something to be in awe of. You have abilities he's dreamed of, longevity he's envious of, strength he's jealous of. He loves you and he knows it will end but he loves you all the same. You love him and he knows that even when he has long since passed you will love him still. It is a fine enough legacy to leave."

He hadn't meant to begin so sternly, to growl and frighten her, but she'd angered him. She somehow saw herself as less than what she was, less than the fragile humans that lived and worked and died in the fields never knowing anything other than what the castle provided. She had a chance to live as no other. She had no reason to hide, no reason to fear and no reason to want anything more than what she already had. She had love and he craved it. If she wasted this chance he'd be angry for a century.

"Dabi, Eleazar will arrive tomorrow and he will be able to tell us more about what we are and what we are supposed to do now that we are alone here. I intend to make another, for myself, a partner." He stopped there and let her digest that before he went on. "I am lonely Dabi. I see what you have found and I want it for myself. Eleazar will tell me how and I will make another. Once it is done Dominique has asked me to think about turning him, for you."

Her shriek was one of pain and anger and it echoed around the castle and down into the courtyard, startling the humans there. A silence befell the grounds as Daria cried out for Dom.

**EPOV**

Bella and I ran to the big house first thing Monday morning. Nessa was awake and looking for us when we got there. I scooped her up, let her lean over and kiss her mother good morning and then I buried my nose in her hair and sighed. I hated being apart from her, even though I'd enjoyed a very pleasant evening with her mother, alone.

"Where are you going today daddy?" Nessa asked as I set her back on her feet. She took my hand and dragged me into the kitchen with her.

"I have to go to the city today little one." I told her.

She hopped up onto the bar stool at the counter and waited patiently for her breakfast. Bella was already putting pans on the stovetop and cracking eggs into a bowl ready to be whipped.

I could hear Angel babbling away to Esme on the first floor and I could read Eleazar's thoughts from the guest room. But nobody else. Either nobody had returned after last night's activities or they had already left this morning. Smart. Alice would have them all working the instant she got back. She'd have seen the impending wedding and no doubt would have it all planned and in place in record time with this many helpers. I wouldn't say willing helpers, but helpers none the less.

"Why do you have to go to the city today daddy?" Nessa asked as Bella slid the omelette onto the plate and put it in front of the hungry little mite.

I slid onto a stood beside her and reached for her knife and fork. I cut the gelatinous eggy mess into strips and put the knife and fork back either side of the plate. Nessa smiled at me and tapped her temple. I listened to only her.

'_Thank you daddy, you're the best.'_ She even giggled in stereo inside her head. It was lovely.

I tapped my temple and she narrowed her eyes as she listened for my thoughts.

'You are most welcome, and you too, are the best.' I told her silently. Out loud I said, "I have to meet with a man darling. I hope to convince him to do some work for me." I shot Bella a grin. "I'll be late back love, I have a council meeting straight after." I told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Convenient." She muttered. "We're all going to have to do Alice' bidding today." She grumbled.

I couldn't help the bark of laughter that came out of my throat. I pulled her down onto my lap on the stool and kissed her thoroughly. Nessa made a gagging sound, not unlike something Emmett would do, so I stopped abruptly.

"What was that?" I asked playfully.

She shovelled another mouthful of egg into her mouth and shrugged. "You were being gross. That's what Uncle Emmett says anyway." She went right back to eating her breakfast.

Bella was giggling softly, and squirming deliciously on my lap. I ran my hand up her back and into the hair at the nape of her neck. She shivered and smiled down at me. "I have to go, love." I whispered as I pulled her mouth back to mine. I kissed her lightly and stiffened when I felt her tongue dart out to lick my lips. I groaned and Nessa giggled. I took Bella with me when I stood. I put her back on her feet and huffed at my daughter. "You be good for mommy today. Help Aunty Alice without grumbling and I'll bring you something nice from the city." I bargained.

"I'll be good daddy. I will be Aunty Alice' best helper." She promised. I doubted it, but I'd bring her something anyway.

Bella came with me to the door and moulded her body to mine as I kissed her long and slow. "Good luck." She purred as I let her go.

"I don't need luck, I'm a big scary vampire." I told her with a chuckle. I bared my teeth and hissed playfully at her. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

I let her go and flew out the door and to the garage. I had been looking forward to the drive all weekend. I hadn't driven the Veyron for ages and as I slid into it the supple leather conformed to my shape fantastically. Knowing Bella could hear me I told the car how much I had missed it. I stroked the dashboard and ran a hand lovingly over the curve of the wheel. "Have you missed me baby?" I asked the car. I revved it mercilessly and felt the power beneath me roar into life. I waited until I heard Bella's curse before gunning the engine and spraying a shower of gravel up from the back wheels as I tore off towards the highway.

I enjoyed the drive immensely. It was all the more enjoyable because I knew that those left behind at the house were at that very moment being tortured by my sister and I was free as a bird for the day. Alice had called me twice already. Once to ask if I would collect a package for her from a boutique in Seattle and again to ask if I would stop by the Four Seasons and yell at the bookings clerk. Alice wanted to book the penthouse suite as a wedding present for Kate and Randall's wedding night, but the clerk had informed her it was already booked. I told her I would sort something out and hung up.

I pulled the Veyron into the Pioneer buildings underground parking lot and reluctantly prepared myself to hand the keys over to the valet. He was in his little booth, separated from me by a thin glass sheet. His thoughts were filled with awe at the sleek lines of the car and he was eager to have me out of sight so he could drive it. But, as I leaned in towards the glass his thoughts shifted to how menacing I looked. His eyes opened wide when I told him that if there was more than two miles added to the odometer when I returned I would pull his spine from his body and beat him with it. He nodded his agreement and snatched my keys up from the pass-through slot with a shaking hand.

I smiled and told him a very polite thank you and headed toward the elevator bank. He was wondering if I was serious as he opened the Veyron's door. He hesitated for half a second before starting it and I grinned, satisfied that he was suitably terrified of me to behave correctly with my beloved vehicle.

It was a short ride to the sixth floor where Mr Rush had his offices. Busy humans moved about the reception area as I walked towards the desk. A pleasant lady with ginger hair and thick horn rimmed glasses asked me to have a seat while she announced my presence to Mr Rush.

I sat in the plush leather seats and read the business directory that was bolted to the wall. The building was shared between six separate businesses. Other lawyers, one a defence attorney and the offices of dePonce Immigration and Citizenship Law were located on other floors. The second floor housed a golf course designer and a bail bond office but Mr Rush, who specialised in real estate law, occupied the entire top floor. The board told me that a nightclub was housed in the ground floor which seemed odd in the extreme.

"Mr Rush will see you now Mr Cullen. Please follow me." The bespectacled lady ushered me through the double doors that led back into the office space at the rear of the floor and I was shown into a North facing office rimmed with glass.

I had a picture of him, of course, but it was remarkable just how much like the late Raul Julia he looked. No Gomez Addams moustache though. Just the dark, hooded eyes and olive skin of a Puerto Rican. He stood from behind his desk and marched to the edge of it, waiting for me to join him there, hand outstretched.

He registered the frigidity of my hand but squeezed firmly to assert his dominance over me, despite his immediate reaction to my presence. Good, I thought as I watched his eyes widen and heard his heart rate speed. A good amount of fear would certainly help me today.

"Mr Cullen, good to meet you. Come in, sit down, tell me how I can help you." He said loudly and gestured to the seat opposite his desk.

When he'd returned to his own chair he took out a plain white folder and opened it. I grinned when I saw a picture of myself pinned to the top of what looked like a blank profile page. It was an old one although I never looked any different than I did right now, so he wasn't to know that. Excellent, he too had done his homework.

His thoughts told me he believed me to be the cocky over achieving son of a surgeon from the backwater town of Forks Washington. He assumed I needed something from him to assist with the opening of my 'over achievers' school.

"Thank you." I said and took the offered chair. I opened my briefcase and took out a folder of my own. I put it in front of me and opened it to the first page. His eyes widened as he saw the photograph of himself pinned to the top page of _my_ information sheet. "As you can see, I know a lot more about you than you know about me Mr Rush." I chuckled darkly as I withdrew the page and slid it across to him.

He sucked in a deep, frightened breath as he read it. "How did you do this?" He asked in a raspy voice. "How do you know about Henry?" He choked as he turned the page and saw the photograph of his eighteen year old son taped to the top of it.

He looked over the top of the page at me and tried very hard to stifle the rage he was feeling. He did quite well, too.

"You have nothing to fear from me Mr Rush, may I call you Robert?" I smirked. I didn't wait for his answer, I just continued on. "I need a real estate lawyer and you, from what I've heard, are a good one. I like to know with whom I'm dealing, and I can see that you do too." I pointed to the file under mine and he slid it across the table towards me.

The photograph he had of me was from my last yearbook at Forks High School. The few lines of information he had about me was more to do with Carlisle than about me. It was not very impressive either.

"What do you want?" He slammed the folder shut and pushed it towards me.

I slid his folio back across and put mine back into my briefcase. I withdrew a fat file and sat it on the table. "I wish to purchase some property and I need it done quietly. I also require an introduction so that I may open a Swiss account and you have several, which means you can make that happen for me, or at the very least you can set up an introduction so I can do it myself." I told him and flipped open my file.

He sat back then. He intertwined his fingers and began to wonder why he should help me. He didn't like me, in fact he'd loathed me pretty much on sight. I was almost exactly what he'd expected. He'd formed his opinion of me instantly. An arrogant, cocky self interested boy with a penchant for spending daddy's money. I had no problem with that at all. It was, after all, the way humans had seen me my whole existence. "And why, exactly, would I want to help you. Can you even afford me?" He laughed.

I had expected this. He wanted me to prove myself, to convince him to do my bidding. As I suspected it wouldn't be enough to merely bribe him, or pay over and above his already overinflated prices. No, Robert Rush had no intention of working for me. To get him to do what I wanted I was going to have to insist, prove to him that he really had no choice.

Luckily for me, he was so conceited his whole life was documented in living colour on the internet and in law journals. I had more than enough information and I had the brains to know what to do with it.

I smiled, teeth and all, and allowed a little of my venom to pool on my tongue. With a slight exhale I sent its scent across the table and waited for his pupils to dilate in fear. When they did I began.

**BPOV**

Stupid, jumped up, bossy, mean, domineering Nazi wedding planning vampire sisters-in-law! Actually, just for today I had to amend that. She was a stupid, jumped up, bossy, mean domineering Nazi wedding planning vampire _with four perfect double crescent bite marks on her neck!_

What was worse was pain in the ass husbands who managed to skive off having to do said bossy and mean Nazi wedding planning sisters-in-laws bidding simply because he had 'council' business to attend to in the goddamned city!

I sent him a text that said as much and all I got in reply was a smiley face!

I'd been sent to fetch yard after yard of white material from a haberdashery in Port Angeles. That of course meant I had to drive a much bigger car than my Elise, so I was stuck with Jasper's horrible big Chrysler which felt like driving an army tank, or so I assumed anyway. Until today I didn't know what a haberdashery was. Alice had put a hand to her hip and explained, quite nastily I thought, what one was and then I'd been dismissed. Twenty women volunteered to come with me but Alice had commandeered all of their services for other errands, so in the end it was just me and Charlotte who could be spared.

I'd asked Nessa if she wanted to come but she'd said no. Alice had praised her no end for that and I'd been left feeling unloved and a little jealous. Nessa said she wanted to stay and help Alice because she'd been allowed to hold the clipboard, and that was a big deal, I got that, but it still hurt to be told no by your own kid.

While we were in Port Angeles we had to collect the bolts of cloth, collect the vests and ties for the men in the bridal party even though Alice didn't even know yet who was in the bridal party!

Charlotte and I were on our way back to Forks when my cell phone beeped again. I slid it into the holder on the console and said hello to Alice. I didn't need to check who it was calling, it could only be Alice on a day like today.

"You are near the photography shop so make sure to stop and get what you need for photos." And then she hung up.

No hello no 'how did the errand go', no nothing.

I growled softly and pulled my phone from the holder. I threw it into the backseat determined not to answer it again. I swung the beast of a car into the car park out the front of the photography shop and pulled a very uninterested Charlotte inside with me.

Half an hour later we were once again heading back to Forks when my cell phone beeped. This time I ignored it. Mine stopped and Charlotte's started. She huffed loudly but answered it all the same. She didn't need to put it on speaker for me to hear Alice bitching about me not answering mine.

"Make sure she knows how important it is that we are all able to stay in contact. It's a wedding, I mean, a wedding!" She screeched. Charlotte winced but couldn't get a word in before Alice started again. "You two need to go by the bakery, the same one where Bella's cake came from, and pick something. It needs to be white of course, three tiers and it has to have orange blossom on it, and tell them not too much greenery either, the last one looked like a jungle scene from Tarzan." Charlotte snorted in laughter but Alice went on undeterred. "Collect Esme from the florist first, she can help you choose. She's at Leppells, that's the one on Spartan Avenue; oh Bella knows where it is." She huffed. "Then get back here ASAP." Then she hung up again.

I cursed Edward for leaving me and getting out of it all again and then I swung the car onto the off ramp for Forks. "Stupid Nazi wedding planners, I swear to god if anyone else gets married I'll personally pay for them to elope to Vegas just to thwart her!"

"Count me in." Charlotte giggled.

* * *

**A/N: Ahh, Alice and her clipboard, gotta love that!**

**Thank you for reading. I hope you are enjoying it, I certainly am having a great time writing for you. Please review. **


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12 – Year One – The Art of Not-So-Gentle Persuasion

**EPOV**

"You are 42 years old and have never married, though you do have an adult son, Henry, who is now eighteen and studying in his first year at Columbia. Journalism I believe. He lived with his mother, Anne, who was your girlfriend from first through your third year at Harvard Law School. You settled here in 1999 and used to have an office on the third floor but you moved up here to the penthouse offices in 2003. You live alone although your housekeeper seems to stay over a lot." I chuckled. His face was puce now. "None of this is of any interest to me Robert. I wouldn't care if you spent your spare time kicking puppies. I want your legal mind and that's all. I have nothing to gain from you other than representation. I am a client, nothing more. I don't want to bribe you or hurt you, I have the means to pay whatever rate you set, though I won't be cornered into paying above what your other clients pay I am willing to set the benchmark a little higher because what I need you to do is not exactly legal." I sat back then and waited for him to decide whether that was enough.

His mind was racing. He understood being stood over. He could reconcile his business with being threatened and it wasn't the first time someone had attempted to use the knowledge of his son against him. What had thrown him was that I didn't appear to want anything in particular. I hadn't threatened him, per se, and I had said I would pay what he asked. He couldn't quite work me out and had no idea why he should bother with me at all.

So I gave him a little more. I tugged a page free from the file and placed it between us on the desk. "You have some very interesting clients Robert. They'd be none too happy to discover that you have skimmed approximately one point three million American dollars from their property deals over the past ten years alone." I saw him cringe but kept on. "I don't even care about that Robert, like I said, I'm not here to threaten you. I just want you to know that I know you, I know how you operate, I know what you are capable of and it's for that reason that I've chosen you to represent my organisation."

He still wasn't convinced he should have anything to do with me. "I don't get it." He bleated. "You say you aren't threatening me but you put pictures of my boy in front of me, tell me you know I'm fucking my housekeeper and show me my own bank records where I've ripped off millions from property deals. What exactly is your organisation and what does it want with me?" He asked belligerently.

I sat back and smiled. "I've already told you. I want to buy some property and I need it to be done quietly, without it being able to be traced back to me. I want to open a Swiss bank account and I need an introduction to make that happen." I reached into my breast pocket and withdrew two documents. I slid the passport across the desk and put the slip of paper beside it. "As you can see, that is the number of your account and I already have a passport in your name with my picture on it." I turned the file in front of us on its side and pulled his pen towards me. I scribbled his signature on the page and turned it back to him. "There you go. You either help me or I'll be on the next plane out of Sea-Tac bound for Switzerland. I'll have the contents of your account in my hand before the close of business tonight. It would make it easier for me to do it that way, but I don't want to have to. I'd much rather you represented us."

"Fuck." He cursed. He slumped in his seat and I could tell from his thoughts that he was mine. He'd do whatever I wanted him to do. It was a shame that he was so untrusting. I hated having to stand over humans to get what I wanted.

What I wanted wasn't even all that illegal or all that bad. I just wanted to buy the safe houses and do it anonymously. I wanted to deposit the money from registrations into a numbered Swiss account and I wanted him to be the go between. Simple.

"I think we can work together Robert." I grinned.

"I think I've got no fucking choice." He mumbled.

"I think you are dead right." I emphasised the word dead and his eyebrows shot up.

"Tell me exactly what you want me to do." He sighed.

He took out his pen and a clean legal pad. I spoke, he wrote just like Esme did. "This file contains a list of the seven properties I wish to buy. I have registered the name of a company and I want you to buy them in that name. There must be no way any of the properties can be traced to me or my family. I want a Swiss numbered account but I am not eighteen." I chuckled darkly. "With the strict heavy diligence regulations I can't simply apply for an account, plus, as you know, I am not legally allowed to have a numbered account if I am a US citizen. But you have one so I believe it can be done." I laughed.

He stopped writing and scrubbed at his forehead with his handkerchief. "You are aware that I have to disclose the economic origin of the money deposited into the account?" He spoke as though he really was speaking to a child and I bristled.

"My documents might say I'm eighteen Mr Rush, but I am far from it. You'll do well to remember that when we are working together." I hissed. He nearly wet himself as the scent of my venom flooded his nose again. He had no idea what I meant or how I could be older than eighteen when every piece of information he had about me said I was. "Now, you and I both know that putting 'Canada' into the check box will not work in the economic origin section, so the funds I wire into the account at the initial deposit will be my own. My organisation will reimburse me when the time comes. So the initial origin may be marked as inheritance. The documents to support that are in the file." I pushed it towards him and he pulled it under this legal pad. "I am chairman of the organisation so you will use my identity documents to set up the account, but I will need provision for directors to be added to the account from time to time. Also we'll need two security boxes attached to the account. Now, name your price." I said at last.

His eyes flew open then. He wasn't prepared for that. He recovered very quickly. "Five percent commission on the properties and two hundred thousand to set up the account." He answered snappily.

"Done. I'll have it ready when you have the account set up." I stood and offered my hand across the table.

He was stunned; he'd expected me to haggle. I really couldn't be bothered. I just wanted it done. The council could go no further without it. He reached out and I took his hand. "You'll hear from me when it's arranged." He said.

"No Mr Rush, I'll hear from you every step of the way. When I call, you answer." I told him firmly. He blanched but nodded.

There was one point eight miles difference on the odometer of the Veyron when I collected it so I tipped the terrified valet a hundred and sped out of the underground parking bay in a cloud of tyre smoke and squeals.

Destination: the Four Seasons Hotel.

**BPOV**

I had three bolts of white material, four boxes of orange blossoms and two boxes of photographic paper in the trunk of the Chrysler and one pissed off mother in law who sat in the back of it surrounded by garment bags filled with suits and vests for the men.

"It cannot be that hard to make a cake, surely?" She was muttering to herself. "It's just sugar for heaven's sake. It's not as if orange blossom is an enormous flower that is going to take four days to dry, laziness it's just laziness." She mumbled.

Alice wasn't going to be happy with us when we got home. Monsieur Solange, Forks very own baker to the stars – that was his opinion and was based on a single photo that had been blown up and plastered to the wall of the bakery showing a spaced out looking Kathy Griffin, with a pastry shoved in her mouth, slumped against the front counter of Forks ONLY bakery – had insisted that he could not make the cake with only forty-eight hours notice if we wanted fondant orange blossoms on it.

Esme had insisted, he'd insisted right back. Esme had thrown cash at the problem; he'd threatened to throw Esme. In the end they'd come to a compromise. He'd make the cake and she would buy extra real orange blossom from the florist down the street and arrange them on the cake herself when she came to collect it on Tuesday morning.

The house looked as though the queen of England was coming to visit in two hours and someone had forgotten to inform the family who lived there. Vampires ran from point to point carrying all manner of things. Rennie ran right by the car with his arms full of chairs. They were the same chairs Alice had hired for the christening only they'd been stripped of their linen covers. Why Rennie was running with them towards the garage was beyond me, but he was.

I almost hit Svetlana when I tried to put the car into the garage itself. The space where the Chrysler was supposed to go was now filled with tables stacked on top of one another. Carlisle's Mercedes was sitting off to one side of the driveway with a car cover over it and where it normally lived were now the stacks of naked chairs.

I pulled to a stop just beyond the garage door and Makenna came out of the garage and ran to the driver's side door. She reefed it open and pulled me, bodily I might add, from the seat. "You've got to do something, she's gone mad." She bellowed.

"Who?" I asked.

"Alice!" Makenna screeched. "First we had to set all these chairs up in rows on the back lawn, then inside the tent. Then she went all weird and announced it was going to rain so now she wants them moved to the garage. Someone is going to rip her in half very soon." She yelled and then she tore off through the trees at the side of the house.

Esme was giggling softly. "We won't see her again today, I bet." She laughed.

I just shook my head. I'd seen Alice in full flight, it was pretty intimidating, but I didn't know what Makenna thought I could do about it. This was Alice' show, she was the ringleader and the lion tamer all rolled into one.

I grabbed the two rolls of material from the trunk and took them inside.

It was utter chaos in there too. Box after box lined the foyer as though a delivery man had brought them to the house and had then been chased away before he could bring them all the way in. The more I thought about that the more likely that scenario seemed.

"Help us." Irina giggled as I went further into the living room.

I leaned the cloth up against the back of the sofa and moved through the downstairs of the house. Mary, Imogen and Rosie sat at the little kitchen table folding napkins that nobody would ever use. They passed the finished product on towards Zuhar who tied dainty white and gold ribbons around them to hold them in place. It was surreal to say the least.

Dieter was perched on a bar stool at the kitchen counter, Benjamin opposite him. They were both stuffing sugared almonds into little gauze bags. Nessa sat on the actual counter top tying the bags with gold ribbons.

"I'm being a big helper girl mommy. Daddy will bring me something nice from the city!" She crowed.

"He sure will sweetheart. You're going a wonderful job. So are the two boys." I giggled. I dropped a kiss on Nessa's head and kept moving.

In the dining room I found Jonathon, Carlisle and Tanya. The two men sat huddled together at one end of the table, scribbling away madly on note cards. I had no idea what they were writing but it looked important.

Tanya was on her own at the other end of the table. She looked up and smiled grimly when I came in. "Maid of honour speech. I have to have it done by sundown. I think I might get an F." She whined.

I couldn't help the bark of laughter. "What are they up to then?" I nodded towards the two men.

She grimaced. "Best man." She pointed to Jonathon with her pen and then to Carlisle. "Celebrant."

"Ahh." I said knowingly. "I'll leave you to it then."

I got back into the heart of the living room in time to hear Alice screech from the first floor. "Randall get your butt up here, it's your turn."

I heard a groan behind me and then a firm slap to my ass. "Hey." I shouted as I spun around.

Randall stood beside me, grinning from ear to ear. "Hello Mrs Cullen. Thanks for the use of your rug last night." He raised and lowered his eyebrows a few times and grinned wickedly.

I returned his grin. "No problem. But I wouldn't be too smug if I were you, I know you didn't get any." I stuck out my tongue just as Alice called for him again.

He only grinned wider. "True, true." He muttered. "But, I know you did. Gotta run." He laughed all the way to the top of the stairs then disappeared down the hall, leaving me standing there gaping.

"What did you get mommy? Did daddy give you a present for being a good girl too?" Nessa asked from the kitchen.

Every vampire in the house burst out laughing then and I was left standing beside my seven year old daughter telling her yes, something like that.

**EPOV**

"Yes of course Mr Cullen. I can easily shift Mr and Mrs Purcell to another suite. We have a fine presidential suite one floor down that will suite them beautifully." The silly fake Frenchman stammered. "The new Mr and Mrs Kade will have a lovely stay here for their honeymoon, I personally guarantee it." He was shaking with fright but I didn't really care.

"Excellent. I will expect their every need to be handled efficiently and with great respect for their privacy, have I made myself clear?" I asked sternly.

Pierre, though I doubted that was his name, it was probably something like Kelvin or Jason, nodded violently. "I understand Mr Cullen, leave it with me, they will be treated like royalty."

I pushed another handful of bills across the counter and he pocketed them swiftly. "Good. Thank you so much, Pierre." I smiled, baring my teeth just a little, and then turned and left.

Hotel Four Seasons sorted, check.

I flipped open my cell phone and memorised the directions Alice had sent earlier. It was only two blocks from where I had the Veyron parked in a secure parking lot so I decided to walk. It was overcast and it would be harder to find another parking space than it would to just walk the short distance.

I could see the signage for the bridal boutique up ahead but took my time. I had another three hours before I was due back at the school for the council meeting and there was no way I was going back to the house with Alice in clipboard mode. So I took a leisurely stroll down the shopping strip. I ducked into a tiny estate jeweller that was dimly lit and had an exquisite bangle in the window.

The salesgirl eyed me as appreciatively as I eyed the bangle. "I'd like to see the primrose bangle please."

She took it from its velvet plinth and put it on another on top of the long glass counter. It was heavy, obviously solid. Its hallmark had the letter P, putting it at around 1915, perhaps a little older. It was gold, 18 carat so a little softer than was usual for a bangle and it had some light dents in it, but it was beautiful all the same. Its age only made it more attractive to me, the patina of old gold was always more alluring for me than newly minted bright yellow gold.

It was a band made up of a double row of love knots that joined at the crest and held aloft a posy of primroses their leaves and two twisted flourishes that doubled as the clasp mechanism.

"I'll take it." I announced.

I strolled along the street towards the boutique and patted the small velvet lined box in my jacket pocket. It was going to look divine against Bella's creamy white wrist.

I collected the five garment bags Alice had waiting for me at the boutique and made my way back to the Veyron. I stowed them carefully in the trunk, or what there was of a trunk, and then went back out onto the street. I turned left this time and made my way into Bellevue Square, a huge luxury goods mall.

I wandered around for about twenty minutes with no clue what to get her. Should I get a toy? Should I buy her jewellery too? Something electronic, a gadget or something for her room?

As a last resort I went into a major department store and had covered two of the three floors and was about to give up and admit defeat when a soft voice said excuse me sir.

I turned to see a young girl beckoning me with her finger. I went to her counter. "Yes?" I asked carefully.

"You seem lost. Can I help?" She smiled.

I listened to her thoughts for a few seconds as I tried to work out what she wanted from me and was pleasantly surprised to learn that she did just genuinely want to help me. "I have a seven year old girl that I promised a gift to for being good for her mother and I have no idea what to get." I admitted sheepishly.

She beamed. "I'm sure I can help." She trilled lightly. She walked towards me, "Do you have a picture of her?" She asked.

I'd never been asked to show a photo of Nessa to anyone before and dived into my jacket pocket for my wallet immediately. With great pride I handed over a shot Bella had taken the day Emmett had unveiled the house to Rosie. I was standing on their front porch and Nessa was sitting on the railing. I had my arm around her waist and she was smiling up at me beautifully, her long copper curls fanning out around her in the slight breeze.

"She is adorable; I bet she has a lovely name too?" The girl asked. She handed me the picture back and waved a hand in front of me to show me the way to go.

"She does. Her name is Renesmee." I beamed with pride. This was such a human experience for me. Shopping, in a department store no less, for my daughter. Showing her picture made me ache with pride.

"Oh that's gorgeous. Here, all little girls love makeup and this particular brand is designed for very young skin. It's all organic and washes off with plain soap and water so it won't hurt her at all. Even the nail polish comes off with soap. She'll feel so grown up but she won't actually be using anything too old for her. Do you think she'd like that?" She asked hesitantly.

I stared down at the makeup set and marvelled at it. There were dozens of tiny jars and pots, lipsticks and brushes of all shapes and sizes. Bella hated make up and only wore it under duress but Nessa, Nessa adored it! "And this is actually designed for small girls? My wife won't go off at me because it's tested on bunnies or something, will she?" I laughed, thinking it was all too easy, there had to be a catch.

"No, not at all. It's all endorsed, see here on the packaging." She showed me the logos and I nodded. "You could always get her a makeup case to go with it, she'd feel just like her mommy then."

I didn't think it was prudent to snort with laughter at that so I held it in and just nodded. "Thank you so much, I will do just that." I handed her a folded bill and thanked her again for her help. I took the makeup kit with me and went to find the luggage section.

With my purchases stowed safely in the trunk of the Veyron I dialled Alice. She answered on the second ring which was unusual for her. She either hadn't 'seen' me calling or it was chaos at the house. I knew what I'd bet on.

"Did you collect them?" She barked when she answered.

"I have the dresses, yes, thank you so much for your kind thanks." I muttered darkly.

"Sorry, busy here. Is the other matter sorted?" She asked.

"It is. They have changed their arrangements to suit ours." I chuckled, knowing she was asking about the hotel.

"Your girls will adore your gifts." She said smugly. "As for the other thing, get a silver one. I gotta go Edward, the guys suit pants are all too long." With that she hung up on me.

I chuckled to myself as I put the Veyron in gear and made my way out into the mid afternoon traffic. 'Get the silver one', she was priceless. She'd obviously seen what I wanted to get and had either been worried about being overheard or she really was that busy. It didn't matter anyway, I intended to get a silver one.

I pulled into the dealership and laughed when the salesmen all rushed forward to get a look at _my _car while I was there to have a look at _theirs_.

**Romania**

Daria cried for an hour, huddled against Raul's chest she sobbed for herself and for Dom. She cried for Stefan and Vladimir and for Elená and Ana.

Everything had changed since their return. Ana no longer spoke to either of them, she refused to feed and her mental state was deteriorating rapidly. Raul was solitary too, no more than he had been before, but with so few of the family remaining his silence and sober existence felt like abandonment to her in the dark of night. Dominique had been her one ray of sunshine, she'd clung to him like a rope offered to the falling.

That he was willing to give up his human life for her, willing to go through the agony of the change to make a life with her frightened and shocked her. That he could feel that way for her after such a short time, that he could ask Raul for his gift had stunned her beyond all reason.

She would never have asked it of him and he'd likely never have discussed it with her openly yet either. The relationship was too new, too fragile yet. That he'd sought Raul's counsel on it hurt but she could see the wisdom in the choice. She could not offer such a gift to Dominique, not even if she'd wanted to. She had no venom to share, her bite could kill and wound and maim, but never change someone.

If it was to be done it would have to be Raul, or Eleazar, who did it. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and sat straighter, squaring her shoulders and calming her shaking cries. "I shouldn't want this for him." She whimpered.

"But you will lose him if you do not." He told her matter of factly. "One day he will die his mortal death and you will regret not giving him this."

It was a simple thing to Raul. If she wanted Dominique forever, and he was able to give them that forever, then she should want it.

"I did not say I didn't want it, I said I shouldn't want it." She whispered hoarsely.

Raul smiled. "I can see the difference Dabi." He stroked her hair and smiled softly. "It is his choice but you should talk with him about it, make sure he understands it is eternal, this fearful gift."

"I will." She whispered again. Drying her eyes on the back of her sleeve she stood before him. "It is a most incredible gift you give us." She tugged his hand up to her lips and kissed it as the devout kiss their pontiff's ring. "Thank you Rabi."

"Don't thank me until it's done Dabi." He removed his hand from hers and stood. He ran a hand over his cheek and chin and sighed heavily. "I have failed before."

She gasped. "You've tried to turn another already? Who? When?" She squeaked in fright.

He went to his desk and sat in the plush leather chair. "It was a failure Dabi, he died, that is enough to know."

She sat opposite him then. "Why did it not work then? You have venom, I've seen you disable a human before. Is there a chance it won't work on Dom?" She asked, wide eyed.

"I think I bit too deeply, my bloodlust was too strong. I want to speak with Eleazar about it before I try again. I won't do it for Dominique until I have done it successfully for another. Don't worry Dabi." He assured her. There was a soft knock at the door then. Raul smiled as Daria's face lit up. "Come in Dominique."

Raul watched as his security advisor entered the room, his eyes never leaving Daria's as he came to stand behind her at the chairs edge. He put a protective hand on her shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt sir." Dominique spoke quietly. "There are two farmers downstairs who need to speak with you."

Raul stood then. "Thank you." He reached his hand across the desk and Dominique took it. "Please don't call me sir anymore Dominique. I am Raul." And with that he strode from the office and left his sister and her love to themselves. They had plenty to discuss.

**Eleazar POV**

"Mr Rush has graciously agreed to represent us. I've instructed him to go ahead and purchase the seven properties listed on the minutes from the last meeting." Edward told us. I looked down at the neatly typed page in front of me and reread the list of properties. Edward continued, "I have no word as yet as to whether he has been able to secure an account on our behalf but I am sure I will hear from him the instant he's been able to make that happen."

He sat back with a smug grin.

"You must have threatened him with something impressive if he agreed so readily." Liam mused.

Edward laughed, it was sinister and didn't suit him at all. I wasn't particularly fond of this side of the boy. The ruthless businessman. I much preferred him as the quiet family man that he was at the Cullen property.

He scowled at me then and I turned my concentration back to the business at hand. "I didn't threaten him at all. I merely pointed out to him that it would be beneficial to all concerned if he chose to represent us. He agreed. He named his price, I agreed to pay it, he set to work."

"How can he buy these properties for us if we have no money yet?" Dieter asked.

"Because I made the funds available. The council can reimburse me when the registrations are complete and our investors have begun to cough up their contributions. Until then I will bankroll the enterprise."

"But that's millions Edward." I said a little too loudly. Esme winced and I threw her an apologetic look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. Edward, this could run to millions, you must think of your family first."

Carlisle snorted but said nothing. Edward clasped his hands in front of himself and smiled. "They are well taken care of Eleazar, I assure you. My sister has quite the knack for the stock market, I am comfortably well off and I'm sure the council won't stiff their chairman." He laughed.

The others twittered at the thought that tossing millions across the table to bankroll the councils first purchases could be done so cavalierly. I simply sat back and shut my mouth. If he could afford to throw a couple of million into the pot to get us started I could only guess at how much he was actually worth. I knew he was shrewd, I knew he enjoyed cars and he never spared any expense when it came to the wedding and the gifts he'd bestowed on Bella, but this was a risk.

"It's not a risk Eleazar." He scowled at me then. "And I am shrewd. Do you honestly believe I'd throw my hat into the ring in this way if I didn't believe that we could do this? Do you think money means so little to me that I'd throw it away on a whim? I have a daughter Eleazar, she's going to live forever, just like us, and that means I'm going to be responsible for her for eternity. Money takes on a little more meaning when you have someone who's going to need it indefinitely. So I didn't take lightly the decision to fund this first round of purchases. But, I could not open a Swiss numbered account without a significant deposit and there was no point engaging a lawyer who specialises in real estate if there is no money for him to buy the real estate with." He was getting pissy now, his voice elevating as he went along. "It may take us six to nine months to raise the capital to get half the things we want done up and running. I don't want to wait, do any of you?" He asked.

Murmurs of no and I'd rather not were echoed around the conference room.

"Son, calm down. Nobody is questioning your dedication to this, we just want to make sure you aren't taking too much of a risk." Carlisle attempted to calm the boy.

"Stop calling me a fucking boy for Christ's sake." Edward bellowed at me. "I am one hundred and thirteen years old and I have a brain that I know how to use Eleazar. I am not a boy and I am the chairman of this council. Let me do my job, the risks I take to make what you want done come about are my risks to take."

I put my hands up in surrender. His commitment was astounding. I had no doubt that we'd chosen correctly when we'd decided he'd head this council. He'd not let anything, or anyone, stand in our way. "I'm sorry Edward. You're quite right. You aren't a boy, forgive me for thinking it."

"Okay, let's all calm down shall we." Carlisle said carefully. "Is there anything else we need to discuss before Eleazar takes his leave?" He asked and I cringed.

"And where is Eleazar going?" Edward hissed predictably.

I don't know why I did it but I hung my head. "You know very well where I'm going." I whispered. He'd have read it from my mind a dozen times these past few days and although he'd said nothing prior I knew that now, right now, in front of the rest of the council, his response was going to have repercussions.

"Our esteemed colleague is off on a transcontinental jaunt, aren't you Eleazar?" He hissed menacingly. Without waiting for my response he stood from his chair and slammed his hands down on the tabletop, startling Esme. I thought Carlisle was about to say something but Edward pushed on. I lifted my face and held his gaze, suddenly angry at having to explain myself to him and prove my loyalty once again. "Councillor Eleazar is going to Romania." He hissed.

Carlisle shot to his feet then, growling and snorting. He hadn't known where I was going, just that I had to leave before the wedding celebrations. Liam was on his feet, his hands clenched in fists at his side. Esme put her head in her hands and it was for her that my heart ached. I didn't want to upset her; she was so lovely and had always been welcoming and understanding towards me. Dieter was hissing now, just as Edward was. Peter looked impartial and that should've shocked me, but there would be time to ponder that at another time. Right now I had to defend myself.

I stood, slowly so as not to provoke any violence. I put my palms flat on the surface of the table and sighed. "It's true, I am going to Romania, to my home. And even though I knew it would provoke this type of reaction in you all, I still plan to go. They are my family and I owe them this. I was invited, Raul called me a few days ago and asked for my assistance. They lost their entire family that day, they've returned to a home with nobody in it to guide them. Ana doesn't feed, she's wasting away. I must go." I pled.

"They slaughtered our Maria in cold blood!" Dieter roared.

"They didn't." I yelled. "Stefan and Vladimir ordered it, it had nothing to with the children, nothing to do with Ana. It was you, Edward, who let them go on their way, told them they would be safe to leave the area, that nobody would pursue them. Was it your intention to let them travel to their home safely?" I asked him.

He tilted his head to the side and thought on it. "Yes. Of course it was." He told me.

"Well, they did. And now that they are there they are struggling to come to terms with the loss of the only family they had. Raul called, he asked for my help, I am going to help." I told them firmly.

Edward regarded me with more interest than usual and I braced myself for his next question. I had some inclination what it was going to be and I'd already thought about the answer I would give. Hopefully it would prevent him from killing me where I stood.

"What has he asked you do help him with Eleazar?" He barked.

**BPOV**

I felt like a taxi service. Now I was in Edward's Aston Martin going towards town to collect a package for Alice from the dress shop next to the pharmacy. I wanted her to go with me so I could question her about the marks on her neck but she'd told me, quite roughly, that she didn't have time for 'all that' and that if I wanted to get to the shop and back before dark I should go now.

I was about to spit back that I couldn't care less whether I got to the shop and back before dark when she crooked an eyebrow at me and hissed. I got the message. I _should_ care whether I had time to get there and back. I got out of there quick smart after that.

I had lists of other things I had to do for her, and for some of the others, so I parked the Aston at the back of the bakery in the parking lot there and then I walked up and down the main shopping strip collecting the things off the list.

A beribboned box from the dress shop, check. Twenty five yards of gold ribbon from the craft store next door, check. A pot of 'raspberry swirl' lip gloss for Charlotte, check. A box of cherry pop tarts and another bottle of maple syrup for my sweet toothed daughter, check. Three dozen condoms from the pharmacy, check.

Emmett had thrust _that_ particular note into my hand as I was leaving. I didn't really want to know what he planned to do with them, but I could guess.

My last stop was going to be the jewellers. Both Kate and Randall had chosen their wedding bands from the window display during the night – neither of them wanted to wander the streets while Randall's thirst was still under watch – and I'd been sent to buy them on their behalf.

A little bell rang on top of the door as I went inside. I immediately felt uneasy. There was nobody in the display area of the shop but I could smell and hear several humans moving about in the back rooms. Something told me I should turn and leave. I didn't quite get that far.

"I'll be right with you." Was called from back there and I stiffened. I knew that voice.

I cursed my bad luck and steeled myself to play nice. Lauren hadn't changed all that much. She'd gotten a little thicker around the waist and her hair was shorter, but her mean eyes and thin mouth was the same as it had been three years ago. She still smelled like a bitch.

"Hello Lauren, I didn't know you worked here." I said as politely as I could manage.

She balked but recovered quickly, but not quick enough for me not to notice her slight panic. Her heart rate soared instantly and she put a hand onto the glass topped counter to steady herself before squaring her shoulders and facing me head on with a sly grin. "Well, look who it is." She drawled. "If it isn't our own Mrs Cullen. Home from college for a visit are we?" She asked with barely concealed hostility.

I stifled my laugh and nodded. "Something like that." I said vaguely.

She rocked on her heels and grinned. She'd recovered enough to remember how much she hated me. "I read about Edward's school in the local paper. How'd he manage to get a teaching degree in only three years? Must have been a hell of a bribe." She sniggered.

"Oh no, it was far easier than bribery. It's something you've probably never heard of Lauren, it's called brains." I chuckled.

I was about to add something nasty about her having really done something incredible with her life if she was working in a jewellery store in Forks when I heard the soft cry of a baby from the back room. She winced, I noticed that much before we were joined by a tall dark haired man with a tiny baby wrapped in a blue blanket in his arms. "Sorry to interrupt but he's starving. You feed him, love. I'll see to your customer." He whispered quietly and handed the baby to Lauren. "Sorry about that." He said as Lauren stepped away from the counter and back through the door that separated the front and back of the store.

She said nothing and didn't turn to me again; her attention was wholly for the baby in her arms. She was a mother. Like me. It was the first time ever I thought more of Lauren Mallory than her just being a teenage bully and a bitch. Someone loved her enough to have a child with her, and he was standing right in front of me.

"It's perfectly fine, I understand." I smiled wide. I pushed my hand across the counter and waited for him to shake it. "I'm Bella, I went to school with Lauren." I said, fishing for information.

"Oh right, I'm Sean, Sean Dougherty. And that was Andy, he's only three weeks old." He smiled proudly. Ahh, this was the owner of the shop, his name was above the window and he was actually the jeweller.

"Congratulations, I had no idea Lauren was even pregnant." I admitted. He didn't need to know that I'd not been into town in years, having no need to go anywhere near anything there and no desire to run into anyone I knew from school. "I'm actually here to collect some rings. Randall Kade called this morning and reserved them I believe."

"Ah, yes, two wedding bands. I'll get them for you." He stepped away from the counter and shuffled some paperwork for a few seconds then reached into a deep drawer and pulled out two black velvet pouches. Coming back to the counter he tipped the two rings onto a red velvet cushion for me to inspect.

I hadn't seen the rings before so I had no idea if they were the right ones so I just had to hope that they were. They had been engraved already so I inspected that instead. 'Forever' was inside the larger of the two rings and the smaller one, Randall's choice for Kate had 'une seule âme' engraved onto it. "They're lovely, Thank you so much for doing them on such short notice." I held out my credit card to him.

"I don't suppose you know what it means?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Sure, it's French and it means one soul." I told him. My lessons were paying off.

"Oh that's great. That's nice for a wedding ring." He said happily. He handed me the two pouches and took my credit card off the counter. "Cullen? You're Bella Cullen?" He asked as he stared down at my card.

"That's me." I cringed. Lauren would've told him something horrible, no doubt.

"Any relation to Edward Cullen?" He asked.

"That's my husband." I said dryly. Here it comes I thought.

"Wow, I read about him in the paper, he's the one opening that school in Port Angeles, right? I've got Andy on the waiting list already." He chuckled. "I hope he gets in one day."

I sighed in relief. "Tell Lauren that when he's ready for school she should give me a call." I chuckled, knowing full well she'd rather chew off her own tongue than speak to me ever again.

He was beaming when he returned and handed me my credit card back. "I'll tell her, thanks."

"Thanks again for doing these on short notice." I put my credit card back into my wallet and turned and left.

I stood outside the store for a few minutes and caught my breath. I'd not taken in any air the whole time I'd been in the shop once I'd worked out it was Lauren in there so I dragged in some nice clean fresh Forks air and then I headed back to the Aston.

I wasn't even fully out of the parking lot when my cell phone started ringing. Caller ID told me it was Alice so I answered it with a groan.

"Don't you groan at me Bella Cullen." She giggled.

I hadn't heard her giggle all day, things must be easing up back at the ranch. "Sorry, do you have another errand for me to run Alice?" I asked as I turned up onto the road that would take me home.

"Nope." She popped the P. "This is a social call. I just thought I'd call and let you know that Lauren Mallory had twenty seven hours of agonising labour and got about thirty stitches in her twat to have that kid. She's still taking pain killers for it. Karma is amazing isn't it?" She giggled.

"You are evil Alice Cullen." I laughed. "And I want to know how you got those teeth marks in your neck; I'll be there in five." I hung up then before she could protest.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review and let me know what you thought. Lots going on, for them all, it's very busy isn't it? lol**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13 – Year One – The Night Before

**EPOV**

He had no intention of answering my question, so I asked it again.

"Eleazar, what exactly are you going to Romania to help Raul with?" I spat across the table at him.

"I don't know." He mumbled.

I shook my head in frustration.

"That's not good enough." Carlisle hissed.

I startled. It wasn't like Carlisle to speak like that, to demand things of his friends, especially not Eleazar whom he'd defended to me on several occasions. Carlisle had changed, we all had, it seemed the only one among us who hadn't was Eleazar.

Six of us in the room didn't trust Eleazar, the other two – Carlisle and Esme – desperately wanted to and felt slightly guilty for wanting to know the answer to my question.

The six of us were worried that his trip home would, in some way, incite revenge from his remaining family members and we'd be right back here, planning a war, in a few months time.

"I'm terribly sorry it's not good enough for you Carlisle." Eleazar rose from his seat and stood behind it, pushing it back underneath the table neatly. "I'm so very sorry that your family is more important than mine. We murdered their family Carlisle. You and I we took their uncle and Ana's husband and you, you selfish arrogant piece of shit, you murdered their father." He shouted at me as he waved his finger in the air. "Let's be clear about that, we murdered them, not the other way around. So don't you dare question me about why I'm going. I'm going because it's the right thing to do. We killed them for no reason other than they were a threat to your children, we killed them in cold blood, to protect _your_ children. Now _those_ children are floundering and I'm expected to let it happen? You begged me to be loyal to you so that I could help you fight, now I'm begging you to let me be a good family member to my own family and let me go and help them when they call."

His shoulders slumped when he'd finished and I hoped he'd wait for us to reply before he stormed off, which seemed likely.

He looked each of us in the eye and made to move away from the table and past where I stood and out the door. As he came level to me I put out a hand to him. He looked down at it in barely concealed disgust.

"I'm sorry Eleazar." I whispered. "You are, of course, right." I straightened my hand further towards him, to encourage him to shake it, but he still would not. I found myself searching for the right words to beg his forgiveness for a change. "I was wrong." I told him firmly. "Of course your family deserves your help, just as mine did. You should go. You should help them. Please don't leave this way." I asked him.

Everyone in the room was holding their breath, waiting for his decision. I had no doubt that if he left now, if he left angry at us, he'd never return.

He turned and faced the table before he spoke. He ignored my proffered hand and spoke. "I will not be interrogated again about my family. This ends here, right now. I wouldn't help Raul to do anything against this group just as I wouldn't help anyone here do anything that would hurt what's left of my family. The three that are left are totally innocent of all that happened in that clearing, they deserve the same chances Renesmee and Seth have. If you cannot trust me to go there to help them without betraying this council then I resign."

"Nobody wants that." Liam gasped.

Eleazar went on, undeterred. "If you can all give me your word that this is an end to the speculation about my loyalty I will go there to help them in good conscience and you can rest assured that any plans they might make that could bring any harm to anyone here will be fully disclosed the instant I learn of them myself." He stepped back again then, towards the door.

It was a fine speech. Well worded. Well thought out and totally reasonable. I didn't hesitate. I could see the sincerity in his thoughts. "You have my word." I held my hand out again and he shook it.

"Thank you, Edward." He said sincerely. He was grateful and relieved that this would now be an end to our personal hostilities.

Carlisle strode to his side and shook his hand. "Of course you have my word, they are my family too."

Eleazar clapped him on the back after shaking his hand.

Esme hugged him tightly and added her own assurance that she never doubted his loyalty. The others too assured him that he could travel safe in the knowledge that they trusted his discretion. To me Peter's was the most reluctant and the most insincere of the gestures. I didn't know why he still didn't trust Eleazar, only that he didn't.

There was nothing to be gained from asking out loud so I would keep an eye on the situation and hopefully Eleazar would give us no reason to ever find out why Peter was so cautious.

**BPOV**

"Jesus Ally you're a mess." I giggled as she lifted her jersey and showed me her back and shoulders. I ran my fingers over the crescents at the back of her neck and she giggled. "God, he went nuts, huh?"

She pulled her jersey back down and nodded furiously. "He really did. God it was amazing. He's never been like that before, I mean, the biting."

She nearly swooned and I laughed loud. "Edward likes to bite." I told her.

"No kidding." She rolled her eyes at me. "I've seen the marks Bella, everyone has seen the marks. Now I've got some of my own."

"Oh, how quickly they grow up." I wiped at my mock tears and put on a pouty face.

She swiped at my arm. "Knock it off. It was a big deal for Jaz. You know he hates the idea of marking me and you know why. This was a big thing for him. I have no idea if he'll ever do it again so I have to keep this memory fresh in my head for now. Get my money's worth." She giggled.

We were in the cottage, come to look in my closet for something suitable for me to wear to the wedding tomorrow. Alice had put so much in there before I had ever set foot in the place only she truly knew what was way in the back. I didn't tend to venture too far back, I mainly hung out at the jeans and jersey section at the front. Now and then I went to the very back to get a dress or a skirt, but that was rare. Usually only on date night.

We were perched on the edge of my bed and she was staring off into space with a moony sort of look on her face. I nudged her in the ribs and she startled back to the here and now.

"Sorry." She laughed. "It was a good night."

"Yeah, it was." I thought dreamily. "Our plan didn't work though."

"No, it didn't, but we weren't too far off the mark in the end. It might not have worked for last night but this time tomorrow she'll have her wish."

"Yeah, I guess she will. They're good together, aren't they?" I mused as we moved into the closet.

Alice began moving garment bags back and forth searching for something in particular. "They are. Well suited. He's a nutcase and she's fun and will keep him grounded. I can't think why I didn't think to set them up before." She trailed off when she found what she was looking for.

I followed her back out into my bedroom. She threw the bag onto the bed and unzipped it. She pulled the dress out, showed it to me briefly then tucked it back into its bag.

"Ally, don't you think it's weird that you know what's in the back of my closet and I don't?" I laughed.

She hung the garment bag on the back of the closet door then came and stood right in front of me. She put her hands on my shoulders and smiled indulgently. "Not really, no. Before I came along you'd have worn jeans or sweats to a wedding, now you'll look like a glamorous movie star and your husband will spend the whole time trying to figure out how to get you back to the meadow to molest you some more." She smiled sweetly, patted my cheek and walked off towards the front door.

I cringed. "Jeez, tell me you didn't _keep_ looking when that vision hit you." I hissed as I joined her on the little stepping stones at my front door.

She grabbed my hand as we began our run back to the big house. "I didn't watch too much, I stopped when it got too blue, which was about ten seconds in. God you two are rough sometimes." She laughed. "Sometimes I think the clothes I buy for you should be given a proper burial, it's like sending lambs to slaughter."

The house was a lot quieter when we got back there. Only a few remained outside, most had retreated indoors as the rain swept across the valley and came up from the river.

Nessa was sitting at the kitchen counter, flanked by Angel and Seth, eating her dinner. I dropped a kiss onto her head and asked what she was having.

"Nana-Me says this is stabbagetti bologeranaise." She crinkled up her nose when she said it as though just the name was offensive to her taste.

I had to laugh. "Ahh, I see Nana has cracked open the Italian cookbook again. Thanks Esme."

Esme turned from the sink and threw me a smile. "You're welcome, dear. Did you find something to wear tomorrow?" She asked.

I nodded. "I did. I'd like to say that one day I'll learn the contents of my own closet but we both know that's a lie." I laughed. "What are your plans for tonight Seth?" I asked.

He swallowed his mouthful of pasta and then smiled. It looked sinister. "I've been invited to the stag night." He said proudly.

I looked to Esme who was cringing. "Shit. Sorry Esme." I whispered. "I didn't know they were having one. We don't have to throw a shower do we?" I asked in a panic.

Esme was smiling so there was hope. "No, thank heavens. We're all just going to hang around here tonight. But don't get too excited, I think Alice wants everyone to have a manicure and a pedicure, so we'll all be doing everyone else's nails." She giggled.

"Mommy says I can have my hair in curlies." Angel announced proudly. I knew this meant she was going to have her hair set in long lengths of cotton strips so that her hair would be a mass of Shirley Temple curls come morning.

I went to her side and wiped some of the bright red sauce from her chin. "Did she? Aren't you lucky then? You must have been a good girl today." I told her as I kissed the top of her head. It was the only place on her upper body that wasn't covered in sauce.

"I was good Aunty Bella. I only made mommy say shit twice today." She said proudly.

I choked on my laughter, Esme failed miserably to hide hers and burst out laughing. "Oh sweetheart." She crowed as she hugged the little girl tightly. "You're such a darling." She kissed her crown as well and then went back to the dishes.

There was twittering laughter all through the house as Angel's comment was digested. She sure was a handful. "Where are mommy and daddy?" I asked her.

"They are at our house silly. They live there you know." She rolled her eyes at me. "Daddy said I am having a sleep over at the big house tonight because he is going to edumicate Randall how to be a good hubsband." She stumbled over the words but I got the gist. It was still so surreal to have such complicated conversations with a one year old, but Nessa had been good practise.

Emmett was going to the buck's night to teach Randall how to be a good mate. It wouldn't end well, it never did. They'd been pretty lenient on Edward but I always thought that was because I was pregnant and they didn't want to upset me, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was more about how long Edward had suffered alone.

"Well then, how about you two hurry up and eat your dinner and then I'll take you to the cottage and you can have a swim in the big tub to get cleaned up? What do you say?" I asked.

They both squealed their answer, making Seth wince between them. "I won't see you again tonight punkin. You be good and don't let them trick you into having your toes painted blue." He chuckled, nudging Nessa in her side playfully.

She beamed up at him through her lashes, just like Edward did to me. "I won't brown boy." She nudged him back and hurriedly scooped up the last of her dinner.

I looked down at her bowl and saw, as the last of the pasta disappeared from the bottom of it, a pale gold sludge. I sighed. "Oh Nessa, tell me you didn't put maple syrup on spaghetti?" I put my hands on my hips.

She smiled, really widely, green parsley stuck between her little teeth. "Nope, I didn't." She said proudly.

"Then what is that?" I asked pointing to the liquid in the bottom of the bowl.

"It's not maple syrup mommy, honest." She nodded to emphasise her honesty.

Seth got down from his chair then. He walked by me towards the sink with his plate. "She's right, it's not maple syrup Bell's, its honey." He chuckled.

All I could do was groan. Esme was chuckling softly to herself but Angel was watching me carefully, waiting for my reaction. I looked to her first. "Your cousin is a strange one Angel. At least you didn't put honey on your dinner, did you darling?" I asked conspiratorially. I wiped her mouth with the napkin and helped her down from the counter. She took her bowl to Esme who put it into the sink.

Angel turned back to me. She smiled proudly. "Nope Aunty Bella, I not have honey, I have the maple syrup this time." She said with a little tinkling laugh.

"God help me." I laughed.

**EPOV**

It had taken another hour to convince Eleazar we were genuinely happy for him to travel to Romania. Of the eight of us in the room only Peter's assurances weren't sincere. That bothered me, a lot, but there was nothing to be gained from mentioning it yet.

So I happily took my turn telling Eleazar how I felt about his trip. The others had their turn too, outlining why we'd been worried and how after his explanation we'd all agreed that he should go and do his best for his remaining family.

There was no time left to discuss anything else so that had been the last chance we'd get this visit to make decisions about the council. Without Eleazar in attendance nothing could be decided, so we disbanded the meeting just after dark and everyone had run off into the night.

I needed to be at the big house at nine at the latest so I could attend the buck's night. This one I was looking forward to because it wasn't me they'd be hanging shit on.

Randall had spent the last twenty minutes of our meeting worrying about what the others were going to do to him so I ran home in high spirits, laughing all the way about his worry. It would do him good to be the butt of a joke for a change instead of always being the one to instigate it.

Bella Angel and Nessa were in the cottage when I got there. Nessa was shielding but Bella was talking to her so I could hear them clearly as I approached. Angel was only thinking about how much fun it was to be in the tub with her cousin so I figured this was Bella being a good aunt and taking care of the two little girls for the night. I heard nobody else and my gut clenched with longing the closer I got to the house.

I had left them both just after first light this morning and it had been a very, very long day apart from them. I threw my briefcase and parcels onto the sofa. The garment bags were still in the trunk of the Veyron and there they'd stay until I went back for them. For now I needed my girls.

I called out to Bella and she ran to me and threw herself into my arms. I buried my nose in her neck and drank her in, my arms folding around her tightly. "Bella." I whispered into her throat. "I missed you so bad baby." I growled against her silky flesh. Our reunions were always filled with desperation and today's was no exception.

She twisted my hair between her fingers and held me tightly. "Oh god, I missed you too." She groaned. "Kiss me." She begged.

I drew away a little and smiled at her. She never needed to ask twice. I swooped down and lifted her, settling her at my waist, her ankles crossed behind my back. I took her lips roughly, crushing them with mine. I wasted no time playing and thrust my tongue deeply into her mouth. Her whimper drove me on. I dug my fingers into the flesh of her ass and shoved myself up against her unashamedly. I turned us so that our backs were to the front door; I pushed her hard up against it and ground myself into her. She moaned into my mouth and I matched it as her aroused scent flooded my nose.

"They are probably doing the kissing thing; do your mommy and daddy do that too?" I heard the tiny whisper from the bathroom and pulled away from Bella immediately.

She giggled softly but I could see the frustration on her face. "Welcome home." She laughed, hopping down off my waist and straightening her jersey where it had bunched up between us. She ran a hand through her hair and smiled.

We both listened while Angel thought about her answer. I could read it from her before she said it, so I cringed well before Bella did.

"Yep. My daddy is always touching my mommy's bottom. I went to their bed because I got a fright in the night and my daddy was smacking my mommy on the bottom. I don't go in there anymore." She whispered.

Bella choked on her laughter and fell against my chest. "Oh god." She laughed.

"Yeah, it's a good idea to stay out of your parents room. Sethy says when they are in there we should stay out. Sethy says I'm still too little to know what they are doing. I don't mind that they have a secret, I do too. Want to hear it?" Nessa whispered.

Bella's eyes flew open and she looked panicked. I couldn't tell her what Nessa's secret was because I didn't know myself. We both crept down the hallway a little and stood just outside the bathroom door while Nessa told Angel her big secret.

"Yep. Can you tell me your secret Nessie?" Angel asked.

"Sure. But you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?" Nessa asked.

"I promise Nessie." Angel said earnestly.

"Let's pinkie promise." I heard Nessa suggest and then the short splash as the two girls linked their fingers and pulled hard. "Okay, I can tell you now you've pinkie promised. My grandpa Charlie is a big sissy." She said gravely.

Bella squeaked and I nudge her to be quiet. I really wanted to hear this now that I knew it wasn't going to be some huge revelation about our sex life.

Angel was hanging on every word. "How come he is?" She asked.

"I stayed there one night while mommy and daddy were on a date with your mommy and daddy and I didn't want to sleep in my mommy's old room. It smells like dust and her bed is little. So I went and asked my Nana-Ne if I could sleep with her. My grandpa Charlie wasn't there, he was catching robbers and drag addicts, she said. I don't know what a drag addict is but he was in his police car with his gun so it can't be good." She said seriously. I was having a hard time holding in my laughter, so was Bella. She was clutching at my arm tightly with one hand and holding her belly with the other. Nessa went on, Angel was desperate to know why Charlie was a sissy, so was I. "But my Nana-Ne said I couldn't sleep in her bed because she had to sleep with my Pop. He's such a big sissy, can't even sleep on his own. I'm seven and I sleep on my own all the time." She announced.

Angel giggled lightly. "Do you think it's alright that he is a policeman if he's a big sissy?" Angel asked.

"I don't know, maybe nobody else knows he is a sissy. We shouldn't tell anyone, just in case." Nessa said seriously.

Bella was doubled over. It was going to be up to me to get the girls out of the bath, but I'd have to have a minute to compose myself first. Maybe more than a minute.

**BPOV**

Rosie came to collect Angel at seven. She was clean and in her pyjamas when she left. I told Rosie I had a story to tell her and she said she'd look forward to it once Angel was in bed for the night. They ran off, hand in hand, to the big house leaving just Edward Nessa and I at the cottage.

I found them both perched on the side of the sofa in the living room. Edward had her in his lap and she was tapping her temple so I knew they were about to have a silent conversation.

I left them to it and set about putting the bathroom back to rights. I mopped up the splashed water and hung the towels to dry. I put the girls dirty clothes into the laundry and then went back out into the living room.

"Nessa tells me she was a good girl today. Do you think she was good enough to receive a gift?" Edward asked me with a wink.

I sat in the armchair and tried to make it look like I was having a hard time deciding. "Well, she did put honey on her spaghetti Bolognese but I guess that's not naughty, that's just weird." I giggled.

Nessa giggled too and coupled with Edward's snort of laughter it was the most beautiful thing I'd heard or seen. It was still unreal to me that I had a husband and a daughter and that they were both so utterly perfect.

"I suppose her funny taste buds shouldn't stop her from having a gift. Show me what you did to help Aunty Alice." He asked her. She put her hand to his cheek and closed her eyes. His smile was gorgeous as she showed him her day. "Just how many of the almonds made it into the bags?" he chuckled.

"Lots daddy. There is a little bag for everyone who's coming. But Alice says I can have as many of them as I want after the wedding because only the wolves and Nana-Ne and Pop will eat them anyway." She grinned, showing him all her little teeth.

"Okay then, I'm convinced. That big parcel over there is for you sweetheart." He kissed her cheek and she jumped down out of his lap and ran to the other end of the sofa and dragged the parcel to the floor and into her lap. He turned to me. "Have you been a good girl today mommy?" He whispered, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

I went and sat in his lap. "I was, I promise. I did all the errands I was asked to do and I helped Aunty Alice too. Even though she's a dirty little..." Edward coughed to get me to stop. I did.

"I don't want to know, she's my sister." He cringed. He leaned back and took a small box out of the pocket of his jacket. "This is for you, love."

I took it from his hands and frowned. "What for?" I asked.

"I don't need a reason to give you nice things, do I?" he asked.

I leant down and kissed his lips lightly. "No, you don't. Thank you." I told him then tore the paper from the box. I gasped when I saw it. "Oh it's gorgeous. Thank you so much!" I shouted just as Nessa began shouting.

"Oh daddy thank you, thank you." She jumped up and threw herself at him, not caring that I was still in his lap. She got past me and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him a dozen times on the cheek. "You are the bestest daddy in the whole wide world." She told him.

Then she ran back to her present. I couldn't take my eyes off the bangle so I had no idea yet what she'd gotten. I took the gold band out of its box and slid it over my right wrist. It fell and nestled right next to my watch and it was gorgeous. The tiny flowers were lovely and so perfectly engraved and etched they looked real despite being a matt gold colour. "What do they mean?" I asked, knowing they'd mean something if Edward had chosen them.

He grinned and began twisting the bangle round and round my wrist. Little jolts of electricity sparked against my skin where he touched it. I slumped further against his chest and sighed. "They're primroses, love." He told me. "Their proper meaning is I can't live without you."

I sighed again and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "Thank you." I whispered. "I can't live without you either."

"Mommy look!" Nessa shouted and I was forced to turn my attention to her.

She held out the pale brown box towards me and I peered inside it. Make up. Tons of it, all in their own little cases and stacked up inside the outer case. "Wow." I said.

"Its big girl make up mommy. Look, this one is called 'pixie pink'." She held out a little lip gloss pot to show me. "This is nail polish, just for me, look." She held up the bottle and I frowned.

"Before you ask its all for her age, love. It all comes off with soap and water, even the nail polish. It's organic and can't hurt her, unless she eats it. Don't eat it Nessa." He laughed.

"Well then, it's beautiful." I told Nessa. "Show me some more." I asked as I slid off Edward's knees and got onto the floor with her. She tipped the case towards me and I caught the logos printed on the outside of it. "Edward!" I scowled at him.

"What?" He tried to look innocent and failed miserably.

"This is Louis Vuitton. She's seven, Edward." I huffed.

"Yes, she is, and she's a Cullen." He poked his tongue out at me then.

**Romania**

Raul made the last arrangements for Eleazar's arrival and checked on the accommodations personally. Eleazar's rooms had been preserved inside the castle, awaiting his return. The room was cleaned meticulously despite his visits being few and far between over the last two hundred years. Nevertheless, the room was pristine and Raul was pleased.

Eleazar would arrive the following morning, alone. Carmen had chosen not to come though Raul did not know why. It was one of a hundred questions he hoped Eleazar could answer for him during his short stay. His most pressing problem was his aunt. He made a short stop outside Ana's door and was, once again, told to leave her alone.

Returning to the second floor and to his study Raul spared a thought for Daria and Dom. They had been holed up in her chamber for hours. He'd heard Daria's quiet sobs a few times during the day and Dom's less frequently, though they were just as gut wrenching as hers.

Raul had no doubt they'd come to a decision together, although he believed that Dominique would wish to be changed Raul knew that Daria was unconvinced. She wanted it for herself and for Dominique too, but wasn't sure it was the right course. Both knew it was the only way they could be together forever but that did not mean it was the right choice, for either of them. Even after he was turned they wouldn't be truly the same. Daria would remain half of what he was and half of what he had been. His thirst for blood would override all else and Daria had to be prepared for the sad fact that he would always want human blood after his change. He could choose to live from animals as Eleazar now did, and Daria might very well choose to turn to that for herself as well, but Raul knew that if Dominique was changed Daria was going to be forced to change as well. Not what she was, but who she was.

She would have to give up her half of her humanity if she was to be the mate of a full vampire. There would be no more trips into the town in the bright summer sunlight. No more sitting across from each other sharing a meal. Raul hoped Dominique was worth it and that the man realized that Daria was worth it too.

All these considerations were being hammered out between the new couple in the dark of Daria's suite of rooms. The drapes had remained closed from the night before, the bedclothes remained rumpled from where Daria had rested between discussions. Dominique was still slumped in the armchair beside the bed, exhausted and still afraid.

They'd come to no decision despite spending four hours discussing the implications of his remaining human versus the benefits of his changing into a vampire. Daria refused to ask him to do it, he refused to agree to it until she did.

It was a standoff of biblical proportions.

"How can you know you love me enough to give up your humanity for me?" She asked caustically.

"Because I know you, Daria. Because I see inside you, I know your heart. I'll never want another." He replied just as icily.

"You've never even kissed me!" She shouted in frustration.

"You've never kissed me either, but here we are, arguing about forever!" He retorted.

She laughed then but it soon turned to great wracking sobs as her heartache overtook her feelings for him. She shouldn't want this from him. He shouldn't want to give this to her so easily. She fled to the adjoining bathroom.

Dominique sat in the armchair and put his head in his hands for the hundredth time that day. He was angry and frustrated and hurt and in love. He knew he loved her. He knew the feelings he had for her were pure, that they would never dim over time. He wanted to explain to her that if he wanted her this much, this badly, without ever having touched her any other way other than to take her hand then he was sure that it was love. He was sure it would stand the test of time and that he wanted as much time as he could have with her. He wanted eternity, with her.

He watched her run to the bathroom for the tenth time. He heard the taps turn on, then off. He heard her calming her breathing and scrubbing at her face with the towel.

Daria emerged from the bathroom with red rimmed eyes and slumped shoulders. She slid silently into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Dominique sighed from his position in the chair. She refused to discuss it further until she'd slept a little and he had to agree. No good would come from the talk descending into arguing and no decisions could be made while he was this exhausted. He rose from the chair and prepared to leave her be.

"Sleep well, dearest." He whispered.

"Don't go." She replied so quietly he thought he imagined the sound.

Daria flung the covers back and patted the space beside her in the enormous bed. Dominique wasted no time thinking about what it meant. He slid his shoes off at the edge of the bed and lay down beside her. She pushed the covers across his body and shifted down so that her face lay alongside the broad expanse of his bicep. She circled his lower arm with her fingers and held on tightly. It was as close to him as she had ever been.

"You honour me." He whispered into the calm darkness.

She smiled to herself and closed her eyes in happiness.

They'd sort it out. She was sure of it. It seemed a little silly to her, to be talking about forever when he'd never even kissed her. As he rolled onto his side to face her his arms came around her body and he pulled her closer. He dropped a soft kiss onto her hair and she smiled again to herself. Well then, that's a start she thought.

She fell into sleep before he did and as her breathing became deeper and she snuffled sweetly against his neck Dominique allowed himself a small smile. He kissed the top of her head again and closed his eyes.

She was his, nothing else mattered. Whether she wanted him turned or not, right now she was his and he was hers. It was a good start.

**Seth POV**

It felt strange to be running towards town in good clothes. Normally I just wore cut off sweats and t-shirts, but this time I ran between Sam and Paul in jeans and a dark blue button down. I felt like an imposter. I didn't look like me at all. I never wore shit like this but my mother had insisted that if I was going to the buck's party I had to dress the part.

The other guys were all dressed up too, nothing too special, not suits or shit like that, but pressed jeans and button downs. No jackets either. And definitely no dress shoes, only trainers. Mine were scuffed and marked up just right. Pauls were a little too clean, but they'd pass all right.

I didn't know what to expect at a bucks night. I'd been to Edward's but I was a little kid back then and I'd gone off to bed even before I'd been told to. This was the first time I'd been included with the men and it felt good. As a pack we were all men, but as humans I was still a kid.

Nobody really treated me like one anymore, not really. I came and went in and out of the Rez as I pleased and apart from my mom making sure I did my homework when school was in nobody treated me like a kid. Especially not Edward.

He trusted me with Nessa and he trusted me to make sure her fears went away, or at least got less and less as time went on. I'd expected him to insist he sort it out when I'd told him what was going on, but he hadn't. He'd just told me to keep him informed. That had shocked me.

So as I ran beside my pack brothers through the forest I thanked the gods that I was trusted enough to be treated like a man.

Half an hour after turning up at the Mill Creek Bar and Grill I was wishing I was back at the cottage playing Scrabble with Nessa. Randall looked like he was having a good time but it was all just...well, it was lame.

Emmett and Jasper had produced this list the minute we were all present and accounted for. They'd taped the list to the back of a booth and they'd put a marker pen on a string on the table. Every time Randall checked off something on the list everyone had to drink a shot and then someone made a big song and dance about marking it off the list.

That was fine, it was a pretty funny game and everyone was having a good time laughing and drinking, but the things on the list were shit. Some of them were funny at first, like letting someone to write Kate's name on his forehead with the marker pen. I'd laughed at that one and downed my shot of bourbon like I should.

I hated to think how much cash had changed hands so I was allowed to drink hard liquor, but Emmett assured me it was all sorted and I should just enjoy myself. I didn't really want to drink, but it felt good to be included so when Randall marked the first few things off his list I drank.

I knew that Jasper was going to do his 'trick' again tonight and let all the vampires in the place feel drunk and that meant that the wolves had to actually get drunk so he could soak it up, but I didn't want to be one of them. We weren't the only ones in the bar either, there was heaps of people in it even though it was Monday night. But I figured there wasn't too much else to do in Forks, so you got your fun where you could.

Mooning the other patrons had roused a big cheer and I downed another shot as it was marked off the list. Convincing a human to take his picture with their cell phone was a bit harder for him to accomplish but he did it in the end. I could tell the girl was wary of him, but he was actually pretty harmless so she gave in in the end when he explained it was for his buck's night.

I downed another shot and decided that was my limit. I could already feel it churning in my gut, making me feel hot and tingly. I asked the barman for a jug of soda then and topped up my shot glass from that each time I needed to drink. Nobody took too much notice of what anyone else was drinking, and the vampires had a hell of a time pretending to be drunk – from Jasper's projections – without ordering or downing too much actual alcohol. But nobody was watching, nobody but us cared what we were up to, so it was ignored.

After a few more fairly harmless pranks on the list things hotted up, fast.

Randall had to convince a human to dance with him. Emmett put a sappy tune on the jukebox and Randall was left to his own devices amongst the crowd. He managed to convince a girl – even though Emmett said it would've been funnier if it had've been a man – to do a quick little turn with him by once again explaining that it was his bucks night.

Stuffing a dollar bill into someone's underwear was easy, he just tucked it into Jonathon's. Emmett protested saying that was cheating but Randall countered with the argument that the list didn't specify whose underwear it needed to be. Emmett conceded, tipped his imaginary hat at the Aussie vampire and on the game went.

Kissing a woman older than his mother was crossed off as a bad joke and Jasper had to admit they'd downloaded the game from a pranking website and hadn't really read it that well. Randall laughed so hard he snorted at that. His mother would've been 106 had she still been alive, finding someone older than that would've been impressive. Of course, some of the women back at the house would've passed no worries, but those women weren't allowed on the buck's night.

Buying a drink the hottest woman in the bar caused more of a problem than I'd first thought it would. The stupid idiots announced, to anyone who would listen, that Randall had to search the bar for the hottest girl in it and that caused some fighting amongst the human men. They all thought their women were the hottest ones in the bar and took offense when a 'drunk' Randall informed them that they weren't.

Edward stepped in then, dragging Randall away from a few tables when it looked as though the human men might like to partake in a little unplanned facial reconstruction. I realized then that Edward had chosen not to be affected by Jasper's projections. I relaxed a bit then. If Edward was in control nothing would go wrong.

He walked back to our group and came to stand beside me. "I won't let it get too out of hand, son." He whispered as he sidled up to the bar.

He rolled his eyes and went to collect Randall again a few minutes later when he had to be rescued from the middle of a loud argument involving three human men who had taken offence at his suggestion that one of them should kiss his ass.

No amount of explaining would convince the men that it was their duty to do it, to help him mark off something from his list.

More trouble was averted when both Ethan and Liam pulled Randall up off the floor. He lay down at the feet of a pretty girl and asked her to let him kiss her feet. She seemed all for it, even rolling 'drunk' Randall was a charismatic guy, but her husband didn't think it was funny.

I just wanted to leave after that. The rest of the list was going to start a fight, a big one, and I didn't want to be in the middle of it. Edward either read me or thought the same because he settled the bar tab and started ushering everyone outside.

Now Edward's a pretty strong guy and most of them usually listened to what he had to say, but when they were under the influence they couldn't have cared less what he was on about. Getting them all to walk like humans, at least until we were all far enough away from the pub not to raise suspicion, was like herding cats.

Half the wolves who were actually really drunk took off at top speed the instant they got outside. The fresh air hit them and they were gone, gone towards the pavement that is. Embry fell on his bonce right at the edge of the sidewalk and I knew his nose had broken from the sickening crunch it made when it connected with the concrete. It proved just how drunk he was that he got up, wiped the blood off with his sleeve and kept right on running.

"What are we gunna do now then?" Jared slurred.

"Go home, dumbass." Paul shouted.

"No, we can't go home yet. I haven't had a chance to have any fun yet. Let's run a bit. Come on you stuffed shirted vamps, you wanna have a race?" Jared called in challenge.

Edward groaned and I knew that this was a bad, bad idea long before everyone took off in a sprint. I kept up easily, I wasn't drunk, but every now and then Jared fell behind or Jack stumbled and we'd all stop and pick them up or let them catch up. It wasn't much of a race seeing as we all arrived at the same time.

That's when I realized where we'd run to. The clearing.

I felt it well up in my gut but couldn't tamp it down before it was too late. I threw up and up and then when the tightening in my chest got too much, all went black.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. I am still not sure of the flow, by adding the Romanian point of view but will continue with it if everyone agrees to it. Let me know your stance, please. **

**Please review if you can, I'd like to know how you are feeling about the story so far. **


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 14 – Year One – A Bit More of the Night Before

**EPOV**

I heard his thoughts turn from dismay at his packs antics to fear and revulsion as he realized where we now stood and I still wasn't fast enough to catch him as he fell.

He hit the ground, face first, with a sickening thud in a dead feint at my feet. I didn't know what scared me more, that his thoughts disappeared so quickly or that his fear of this place was so overwhelming. His brain just went blank. Nothing. There was nothing to read from him.

"Jesus Seth!" I cried as he hit the ground. "Carlisle!" I shouted, but he was already running towards us.

I scooped the boy up and cradled his head in my arms. I was so scared for him. He was blank to me and I hated it. I held him and rocked him as though he were a baby, I don't know why I did it, it just felt right.

"Edward. Edward." Someone was calling me. I looked up to see who and saw Carlisle standing over us. He had his hand on my shoulder and was looking at me kindly. "Edward, let me have him, son." He said quietly.

"Sorry." I mumbled and stood up, putting Seth's head onto the ground carefully.

I stepped away a little and let Carlisle do his job.

That's when I noticed Jasper. He was crouched on the ground, head in his hands, moaning quietly. As Carlisle tried to rouse Seth, Jaspers thoughts slowly recovered their usual patterns. He stood and nodded towards me, knowing I'd be asking very soon if he was okay. "Do what you gotta do Ed." He said quietly and I moved back towards Carlisle.

I could see that Seth was coming around and I wondered how long I'd held him before Carlisle had gotten through to me. I listened to some of the thoughts around me and heard that it had been a minute or so, longer that should've been necessary to get my attention as far as the others were concerned.

Emmett came to my side and nudged me on the shoulder. "You okay bro?" He asked quietly.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"What's the deal, is he sick?" Emmett asked.

It was a fair question and I wished it was as easy an answer as that. But it wasn't. I shook my head. "No, he's not. I have to have a word with Sam, I'll be right back."

I found Sam in a group with the other wolves. They all stood around staring at the scene as best they could. They were all drunk and incapable of really taking in too much of what was going on. Listening to their thoughts was a wasted effort, none of them made any sense.

"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked as I approached.

"He feinted in fear." I told him. "The clearing, what happened here, it was too much for him. He's not been back here since that day." I told him. It was no use though, he didn't understand what I was trying to tell him. "You should all go home, sober up. I'll take him home with me to the cottage. He'll be okay there." I told him.

"Sure, sure." And with that all the wolves ran off towards the Rez. They knew they could be no help, that there was nothing they could do. But they also took me at my word that I'd look after him and that he'd be fine. The last thoughts I read from Sam were his internal curses. He was sorry he'd gotten drunk and had to let us take care of a pack member.

I went back to the vampire group. "Can you run home and warn Bella I'm bringing Seth and that she'll need to set up his bed." I asked Jonathon who hovered close to where Carlisle sat with a slowly rousing Seth. "Tell her not to take Nessa home with her." I added as an afterthought. She'd panic if she saw Seth like this.

Jonathon was gone in a heartbeat, running away to the west towards the big house. I got down on my knees in the wet grass beside Seth. "How is he?" I asked Carlisle.

"He's okay, just out cold. His breathing is steady, good heart rate, of course he's warm but that's normal for him. It's just shock, I think. What was he thinking at the time?" He asked and I cringed.

"He was utterly terrified. That's all I could read and then he fell. I don't know specifics." I told him honestly. I wasn't sure I'd tell him even if I did. Not with everyone else standing around anyway.

"You should all go to your homes." Carlisle said carefully dismissing everyone that didn't need to be there. They all mumbled their good wishes and began to run away to their various accommodations.

Seth shook his head a little and I saw his fingers twitch at his side but he wasn't quite coherent yet. His thoughts were jumbled. Slowly they became clearer, the longer he lay there the more I could read from him. When the blackness cleared completely he opened his eyes and sat up under his own steam. Maybe three minutes had passed since he'd hit the ground.

"Seth? How do you feel?" Carlisle asked.

Seth rubbed his cheek and then his eyes. "I don't know, alright I guess. What happened?" He croaked.

"You feinted. Can you hear me alright?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah, I can hear you fine." He said a little more steadily. "I can see you fine too, before you ask."

Carlisle chuckled. "Good. Do you think you can stand up?"

"I'll try." Carlisle slipped out from underneath him and got to his feet. I bent down and offered Seth a hand, which he took. I helped him to his feet and held onto his shoulders while he got his bearings. He closed his eyes tight when he was fully vertical and fought the rising nausea. He looked around him and tried to decipher where he was and why. When it dawned on him that he was still in the clearing he began to retch.

"He's going to vomit." I told Carlisle who stepped aside just as the remaining contents of Seth's stomach evacuated his throat.

He gagged and heaved for a minute and then sunk back onto his knees on the grass. I bent low and put a hand to the middle of his back, between his shoulder blades. "Come on, we'll get you back to the cottage."

He nodded but couldn't rise. I put my arms under his armpits and pulled him to his feet. Then I scooped him up and carried him home. He wanted to protest, to tell me that he wasn't a child and that he didn't need to be carried, but it was a lie.

So I carried him home to where Bella and I could care for him.

**BPOV**

When Jonathon arrived at the big house at a flat out run and burst in through the backdoor I jumped to my feet.

"What is it?" I shouted.

He put a hand on my shoulder and my gut clenched in fear. "Don't panic, please. Seth feinted, in the clearing. Edward says to make up his bed at the cottage but not to take Nessa home with you." He said.

It was obvious he was worried but I didn't stop to ask if Nessa could stay at the big house, or to hear any more, I was already through the backdoor on my way to the cottage.

I threw the front door open and yanked on the futon in the living room. It sprung open easily. I ran to the linen cupboard and dragged out Seth's blankets and his pillows. I had his bed made in two minutes flat and then I was outside pacing along the stepping stones listening for Edward's approach.

I knew they'd come from the west if they'd been in the clearing, so I kept an eye on the trees in that direction.

I smelled them before I saw them. The wind was whipping around the little open area at the front of the house and it brought three scents to me. Carlisle Edward and Seth.

Then I saw them. Seth was in Edward's arms! I couldn't help the choked sound I made as I saw him lying there, not fighting as I thought he should be for Edward to let him down.

I ran to meet them halfway across the yard. "Is he okay? What can I do? What happened?" I barked frustrated at not knowing what was going on.

"Let me put him inside first love." Edward told me and I stepped away so he could go inside.

Carlisle grabbed my forearm before I could follow. "Give them a second. I don't think he's very happy about having to be carried is all." He said softly.

I nodded. "Alright. Will he be okay?" I asked.

He stepped towards me and folded me into his arms. He kissed me on the top of my head. "Of course he will. You feinted away just like that the night you found out what we were, remember?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, I remember." I laughed lightly. "Thanks, dad."

"You are most welcome. Go on in, go mother him to death. I'll be at home if you need me." He didn't even wait for me to protest that he should check on Seth before leaving, he just left.

I went inside then. Seth was lying on his bed with the covers up around his chin. He was pale, which was bad for someone as brown skinned as he was. He was breathing quite heavily. I didn't spare a thought for Edward, I just got onto my knees on the floor beside Seth and took his hand into mine under the covers. I ran my free hand over his forehead and sighed.

"I'm alright Bell's, stop panicking." He whispered.

I kissed his forehead and tried to calm down. If he was alright enough to be telling me not to panic he'd survive. "What the hell happened?"

"I feinted." He said.

"Well duh, I got that much already, thanks." I chuckled. I sniffed then. "What the fuck? Edward did you let him drink? What is that, rum? No, it's fucking bourbon!" I shot to my feet and squared off with Edward.

"I'm not his keeper Bella, Sam gave him permission to have a drink, it's nothing to do with me and it's got nothing to do with why he feinted." He hissed protectively.

I looked back to Seth. He had his eyes closed now as though he just wanted to sleep. Maybe he did. I ignored Edward and ran down to our bathroom to wet a cloth. I brought it back into the living room and washed Seth's face. He'd been sick, I could smell that too, but I guessed he wasn't able to get up and brush his teeth or to drink any water either, he just wanted to rest.

I kissed his forehead and patted him once more on the hand and then I dragged Edward into our bedroom.

I rounded on him the instant the door was shut behind us. "What the fuck happened?" I demanded.

He ran a hand through his hair and stepped from foot to foot. He looked as though he was about to say something and then thought better of it. He scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand and then moved to the edge of the bed. I was about to yell again when I realized he wasn't keeping anything from me, he was just upset.

I went to him then, stood between his knees and cradled his head against my belly as he whimpered. "Shhh, it's okay, he'll be fine, Carlisle said so, and you know he will be for yourself, don't you?" I asked quietly.

He had two medical degrees of his own, he knew better than I would that feinting wasn't too much of a big deal, I did it heaps when I was human. He nodded against my tummy and sighed. "He'll be fine. He just needs to rest." He moaned against me, his voice making my tummy shiver and shake as the words rattled against me.

He made a soft sort of sob and dug his fingers into my sides, pulling me tighter up against him. I stroked his hair and held him while he worked through whatever was going on for him. He'd tell me eventually but he'd hold out longer if I asked. I could be patient knowing Seth was going to be fine.

After a few more minutes Edward pulled me forwards. As he lowered himself onto the mattress he brought me with him. I lie on top of him and just let him hold me. He rolled sideways and I put my arms around him, letting him rest against my throat.

I felt him draw in a breath and hoped he was ready to talk. He was.

"His last thought, before he blacked out, was of you facing Jane. His whole system flooded with fear and he just fell. At first I thought he was dead. His brain went that blank that fast. Just nothing. No dreams, no subconscious thoughts, nothing." He whispered. I tried to stay still, to not cry out in anguish at what he was telling me. If I did he'd stop. "We were running, with the wolves, they wanted to race us, the vampires I mean, as a group we were running. I didn't take too much notice of where we were running to, we just ran, for fun, you know?"

"I know." I added, for no reason other than he expected me to. He was just running through his thoughts, he wouldn't take too much notice of what I said at this point.

"I don't think he realised where we were at first. He was just running with us. I didn't register his fear until it was too late. I couldn't even reach out to catch him and I'm fast, so fast Bella, and I couldn't do anything. He was already on the ground when I read it from him." He moaned sadly and pressed his face further into my throat. "The pack was too drunk to do anything at all and I panicked. All my medical training and I panicked, I was as useless as the wolves, I may as well have not even been there." He mumbled unhappily.

"Shh, you can't think like that. You were there for him. I'm sure you weren't useless, you just think you panicked because you're a perfectionist." I assured him.

But he was shaking his head violently back and forth. "No, that's not it. Not this time." He wailed. "I was totally fucking useless Bella. He fell and I fell beside him and just held him. I was so panicked all I could think about was him being dead and what I'd tell you and Nessa. I love him like my own Bella. I've never felt desolation like that and I don't want to ever again. It took Carlisle a full minute to get my attention, I was lost, totally absorbed in my own thoughts. I was useless to him."

I stroked his hair and kissed him softly. "Okay, maybe you did panic but that's alright. Carlisle was there and Seth wasn't actually dead, or dying. You can't beat yourself up over this Edward, he's fine, he will be fine and you didn't do anything wrong."

He sighed heavily. "His fear was so powerful it took Jasper down."

I gasped then. I'd never seen that, Jasper on his knees in reaction to someone's emotions before. He'd come close, with us a few times, but I'd never seen him actually fall. "Oh my god." I whispered.

"I know!" he said more forcefully. "He was so afraid that just feeling it from him brought Jasper to his knees Bella. It crippled him and there was nothing I could do."

I held him tighter while he trembled and tried to keep my thoughts even and steady. If I lost it, or got frightened on Seth's behalf, I'd be useless to Edward. So I just held him tightly and let him come to terms with what he'd seen and heard tonight.

A few short days ago this big, powerful man was standing over me, intimidating me, frightening me in the study and now he was a quivering mess in my arms. Shaking like a leaf and sobbing into my throat like a child.

My pocket began to vibrate and I slid a hand into my jeans pocket to retrieve it. "Alice." I whispered. It was a text asking if we were alright and if there was anything we needed. "She's just checking that everyone is okay, she can't see us." I told him and felt him nod against me. "I'll tell her we're all good." I quickly tapped out my reply one handed, which was no mean feat in itself. I told her that Seth was sleeping and that Edward was in shock but alright. Then I put the phone on the bed beside us. I kissed Edward on the forehead and then I scooted backwards until I was propped up against the pillows and the headboard. He came with me, pushing himself along until he was lying across my belly.

He splayed his fingers out across my waist and began to rub. He began to calm as he rubbed. Small circles at first while he was stressed and nervous then as the circles became larger and his strokes became more idle his shoulders relaxed and he closed his eyes. When he was calm again I began to run my fingers through his hair. Every few strokes he'd hum his appreciation into my belly.

We stayed like that for a long, long time. Listening to Seth snore softly, his deep and even breathing was soothing for us both. We were still right there, Edward lying across my belly and me stroking his hair, when Seth woke up at first light.

He coughed once and I felt Edward stiffen under me, but when Seth got up to stretch Edward calmed down again. "Go on." I encouraged him.

He kissed my tummy and then my lips and then he was gone, off to see Seth.

**EPOV**

Bella soothed me like nobody else could but I couldn't rest until I'd seen for myself that Seth was going to be alright long term. So when I read his first thoughts upon waking I listened carefully.

At first they were ordinary thoughts. He was hungry; he had a slight headache either from the alcohol or the feinting. He was dirty, needed a shower, and needed the bathroom, things like that. Then he registered where he was and that Nessa's scent was feint and that she wasn't here. That bothered him, but once he'd reconciled that with it being for the best he settled. He listened for us, trying to hear if we were making love or just having quiet time. I cringed at that but knew it was unavoidable. It was part of the lack of privacy that belonged only to the supernatural.

He stood and stretched and registered that his muscles felt achy. He coughed because of the dryness of his throat and I flinched, I knew Bella felt it because soon after she encouraged me to go to him.

She knew me so very well. She knew when to talk to me, when to remain quiet and when to encourage me to spill my guts. She was perfect.

I kissed her belly then her lips and ran out into the living room. Seth was just sitting up on the futon stretching his long legs out in front of him. "Hey." I whispered.

He looked up and smiled a little. "Hey."

"Hungry?" I asked and went into the kitchen to start his breakfast.

He stood and stretched again, his fingertips caressing the low ceiling easily. "You don't have to do that for me. I can do it." He said as he came into the kitchen with me.

I put the pan onto the burner and took out the carton of eggs from the refrigerator. "I know I don't have to, but I want to. You go shower, it will be ready in ten." I told him.

I expected him to just go off down the hall towards the bathroom, but he didn't. He came further into the kitchen and put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm okay Edward. Really I am. I know you know why I feinted, but I'm okay now. You can stop worrying."

I blew out the breath I'd been holding and turned to him. "Are you sure? Should we get Carlisle down here just in case?" I asked.

He smiled. "Nah. I'm all good. Bit hungry, bit of a headache but nothing a bit more rest won't fix. Honest. You don't have to worry about me. I'll go have that shower, three eggs this morning thanks, dad." He laughed and then he was gone, down the hall.

I heard the water turn on and smiled to myself. He was alright and he'd called me dad again.

Bella came out of our bedroom in a pale blue cashmere jersey and dark blue skinny jeans. She came to me at the counter and wrapped her arms around my waist as I cooked Seth's eggs. "He's fine." She whispered against my back.

Her soft fingers against my stomach and her warmth against my back, coupled with her husky whisper made me twitch in my jeans. "He is." I turned in her embrace and captured her lips with mine. I groaned as she pressed hard up against me.

I burned the first three eggs that morning and had to insist Bella step away to a safer distance so I didn't ruin the next three. By the time Seth came out of the bathroom, clean shaven and in clean clothes, his breakfast was on the table complete with two aspirin and a glass of juice.

He took the first bite then swallowed the pills with a mouthful of juice. Bella sat opposite him and I was leaning against the counter. "We don't tell Nessa, agreed?" He asked.

I was about to agree when Bella spoke. "On one condition." She said.

"Okay." Seth said cautiously. He kept shovelling eggs and toast into his mouth while she laid out her stipulation.

"You tell us what happened. And don't just say you got a fright. Tell us what's happening for you, we only want to help. Keeping it inside won't do you any good and it won't help Nessa either." She said.

I thought it was both reasonable and smart. I'd let Seth take charge of helping Nessa with her fear, but if his fear was so strong and able to affect him as it did last night he'd be no good to help Nessa with hers. He needed to work through his in order to help her properly.

He thought about her condition for a moment and sighed. He seemed to know she just had his best interests at heart and nodded slowly. "Fair enough." He mumbled. He took another sip of the juice and wiped his mouth on the napkin. I took a seat between them both and waited for him to begin. "Good eggs by the way." He chuckled. "So I guess I've been having some dreams too, and not the good kind. Not too many and not every night or anything like that. Just now and then. But I figured it out that when Nessa had a bad day, or something upset her that's when I'd have a nightmare myself." He shrugged.

I thought about that for a few seconds. "I might have a theory about that." I said.

His eyes shot open. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah. I remember when she was really little and you told her you'd take her tears for her. It's a bit like that, isn't it, what you do when she's frightened?" I asked.

He thought about it for a minute then nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is. Maybe that's what I do. I take her fear onto myself but I never really get to do anything with it, it just sits there. Huh, you're right. I've helped her but hurt myself. Shit." He growled.

Bella smiled at me. "God I love you." She whispered.

I smiled in return but drove on with Seth. "Transference. That's what they call it. You haven't done anything wrong so there is nothing to berate yourself for, actually it's pretty sweet really. But it's not healthy, for either of you. You take it from her so it doesn't hurt her, but you need to learn ways to deal with it yourself otherwise it will eat you up. And I'm not just talking about this fear you both have, it can extend to just simple worries too. Like when you are apart or she's angry or even when she's frustrated. If you take all of that onto yourself to spare her you'll overload yourself and she won't learn how to deal with those completely normal emotions for herself." I told him.

He put his head in his hands then. His thoughts were filled with pain and worry for what he'd done and what he thought he'd failed to do. "I'm so sorry, I never meant for any of this to be this way. I thought I was doing her a favour. She always seemed so much happier after she told me her troubles, like she could just give them to me and then she'd move on. I never understood that that was wrong."

"It's not wrong, don't think that. We all want to protect her, of course we do. But we have to let her feel too. She has to be able to deal with these things for herself. I'm not talking about ordinary everyday scrapes and petty disagreements. I'm talking about the bigger things she's going to face. Like the aftermath of the fight, like you nearly dying protecting her, like her mother and I being killers. She needs to know about those things and she needs to learn how to move through them for herself. Do you agree?" I asked him.

Bella was staring at me with wide eyes and I knew which part she was going to take issue with, but right now I needed to help Seth. I'd deal with her when we were alone.

"Yeah, I do agree with that. But, do you think she sees me as a killer too?" He whispered and Bella gasped, loudly. "I'm serious. I killed Santiago, she saw me do it, she saw all those people die and she's never once mentioned it to me. Never once said that it was wrong or anything. You guys know it was wrong, right?" He asked.

His thoughts were panicked, he thought he might be crossing some invisible ethical or moral boundary and he was preparing himself to either flee or defend. I put a hand on his shoulder. "Of course we do, but if we had to we'd do it again, so would you, wouldn't you son?" I asked calmly.

He nodded. "Yeah, I would. Do you think she knows that, knows the difference between us and them?" he asked.

"I don't know." Bella whispered. "But I hope she does. We all need to make sure she does."

"I agree. We will have to make sure she does. I guess we aren't finished with all this after all. Now, maybe you want to talk to Sam or the pack about what's going on with you, but I think we can all agree that we need to spend some time talking with Nessa about this and about what she's feeling. Right?" I asked them both.

"Of course." Bella said.

"Yeah. I will talk to Sam but I can talk to you guys too, right?" He asked.

"Of course." I told him. "We know you're a wolf first and ours second Seth. But you can always come to us, no matter what. You can trust us."

"I know. Thanks."

"But right now I think you should prepare yourself. Esme is bringing Nessa and they will burst in through that door in about twenty five seconds. It's going to be loud, she's missed you and she's hyped up because of the wedding." I laughed.

Almost exactly twenty five seconds later my daughter burst through the front door and ran right into Seth's arms.

"Hey punkin." He mumbled into her hair. He inhaled deeply and sighed in contentment.

Esme came in a few seconds later and greeted us both with a smile. She stood beside Bella and watched as the two children were reunited.

Nessa was so worried she wasn't shielding. '_Sethy, Sethy my Sethy. He's alright, he's alright, he's alright.'_ She was chanting in her thoughts.

I listened for only a few seconds more but I learnt that she'd overheard some of the adults talking about what had happened in the clearing. She ran her hands all over his face, neck and shoulders. She settled her hands on either side of his face and stared into his eyes. "Mine." She growled.

Oh fuck I thought, it starts now. I heard Bella try to hide her gasp but Esme wasn't quite so quick to hide hers.

**Eleazar POV**

"If she has a gift I can't tell you what it is." I was honest with them but it was obvious that nothing I said was what they were hoping to hear.

I knew from Carlisle that the young family had had its fair share of teething troubles. Rosie had adapted very well to being a mother but Emmett had, at first, seemed to flounder with the wailing infant. Rosalie had taken everything Angel did in her stride and had been able to wait it out; Emmett had worried and sought answers as to why the baby had wailed as much as she had.

Nobody had that answer, however.

Carlisle's view was that it was in reaction to the circumstances of her birth and while it wasn't my place to speculate, I was inclined to agree. These hybrids were aware long before they were born and as such they emerged into this world able to see and understand what was going on around them. They might not have been able to articulate what they were feeling, but where Nessa had communicated her feelings via touch and image projection it stood to reason that Angel articulated hers via her voice. I'd also been told that the new parents were eager to learn that their child DID NOT possess a discernable gift.

I didn't quite know what to make of that. Edward and Bella had known of Renesmee's gift long before I told them she had one, just as Stefan and Elená had known that Daria had none long before I confirmed it for them.

But Rose and Emmett were different again. They seemed to hope that their daughter had no gift. I put that down to them being surrounded by them. Edward, Jasper, Alice Bella and Renesmee all possessed something of an ability, and in Renesmee's case several gifts. But Rosalie and Emmett were 'ordinary' vampires and I believed that their apprehension about raising a hybrid child with a gift stemmed from two very different points of view.

Emmett wanted her to be a regular vampire because he was one himself. Rosalie wanted her to be a normal vampire because of what they'd faced in order to get her. With no gift she'd pose no threat to anyone, she wasn't any more or less valuable than anyone else and they'd never, ever have to fight for her the way Edward and Bella had fought for Renesmee.

"But is that the same as she has no gift?" Emmett asked.

I grimaced. I didn't want to have this conversation. I had been honest with them. If she had a gift I couldn't quantify it, yet. I scrubbed at my chin with my fingers. "I don't know what to tell you, I honestly don't. I feel something when I see her, when I touch her there is something there, but just what it is I don't know."

Emmett cursed softly and I cringed. This was tough on them, for various reasons. "Okay, but it's nothing bad, right?" he asked.

I sighed. "How would you like me to find that out Emmett? Test her? It's impossible to know what she'll be capable of as she grows, good or bad. Not that I know what constitutes a good or bad gift, everyone sees the things we can do differently. For us it really is in the eye of the beholder." I tried my best to placate him but he was becoming more and more aggressive both in posture and in language.

"Well that's just pretty fucking words Eleazar. Try again." He raged. Rose put a hand out to him but he batted it away nastily. "No Rosie, this prick is supposed to know this shit, it's what he does. He told us over and over its all he's known for a thousand years and now he can't fucking do it. It's not good enough."

Rose stood then. With her hands on her hips she stared him down. "Sit down and listen to what you are being told Emmett. Getting angry won't solve a fucking thing. He's the expert so listen to him." She turned to me as Emmett sat back down in the chair. "Sorry, go on, tell us what you can, please."

It was so oddly out of character for Rose to be the one placating that I didn't quite know what to do or say for a moment. Em just shrugged when I looked to him so I kept on.

The morning was getting on and I needed to be gone but I did my best to help them. "Look, it's true I feel something from her but I can't tell you what that is or what it means. I don't know why that is, it happens sometimes. Especially with hybrids, they grow we don't, so their talents can be dormant for a long time and then suddenly they just pop up. There is something inside her, I just don't know what it is."

"Okay, so for now we watch and listen, right?" Rosie was being more than generous and very calm about it all. Not what I'd expected.

"Right." I agreed. I stood from their dining room table and held my hand across the table for Emmett. He shook it, though reluctantly. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more, perhaps by the time I return I will be able to see more from her. I have to go now, I'll see you in a few weeks."

I left their house and ran back to the Cullen house. Carmen was waiting for me on the front porch. "My love." She sank into my arms and held me tightly. "I will miss you, travel safely and give my love to them."

I kissed her hard on the lips. "I will, are you sure you won't accompany me?" I tried one last time to get her to come. She shook her head. I understood her reasons but I still wanted her with me even if it was wrong for her and not what she wanted. "Then I will long for you until I return. Wish the newlyweds well for me." She nodded and then I ran.

Drawn out goodbyes were not who we were. It only made the agony of separation harder.

**Romania**

Daria woke to the sound of running water in her bathroom. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she sat up in the bed and listened carefully.

Dom was humming. Very softly but it was definitely him. In her shower, using her soap. A warm flush spread from Daria's belly and up into her chest. She drew in a long breath and then threw the covers back off herself. It was early evening if the time on her clock was correct and she was hungry. She moved to the small desk by the windows and called the kitchens. She asked for soup, bread and cheese and strong coffee for two to be brought to her chamber. The maid said nothing other than that the request would be handled right away, but Daria smiled to herself none the less. It was the first truly human request she'd ever made of the staff and it felt good.

She put her ear to the bathroom door and hugged herself around the middle. Dom was humming folk tunes! His scent was incredibly strong even though it only seeped under the door. The hot water magnified it tenfold and Daria threw her head back and drank it in. Lifting the collar of her shirt to her nose she smelled him there too. Her bedclothes would smell of him for a few days also, the thought warmed her further.

The water switched off with a grunt from the ancient pipes and Daria ran back to the bed, throwing herself into it and pulling the covers back up around her chin. Dom emerged a few minutes later from the bathroom dressed in clean clothes and wearing a deep smile.

"Did you sleep well, dearest?" He asked as he came towards the bed.

Daria smiled a little. "I did. You have clean clothes?" She asked.

"I went back to my room, I was only gone for maybe two minutes, I didn't want to wake you." He whispered as he came closer still to the edge of the bed.

It was as though he wasn't sure whether he was allowed near her again now that he'd left the safety of the bed they'd shared. Should he wait for an invitation? Could he join her again without it? Should he?

He wanted to ask but never got the chance. Daria sprang from the bed and ran into the bathroom like a startled jack rabbit. "I have called for a meal, it won't be long." She called through the closed door.

Dom settled himself at the table and chairs after opening the drapes. It was already dark but the lights from the courtyard streamed into the room pleasantly, casting a much softer light than the overhead electric ones would.

They had missed their afternoon stroll to the town and they'd skipped their meal too. His stomach was growling but he felt much better for having had some rest and a shower. Her bathroom smelled like her. He recognised the scent of her shampoo and of her soap as soon as he turned on the hot water. His dirty clothes smelled of her and he didn't want to send them to be washed just yet, just in case he didn't get a chance to be with her that closely again for a while. He wanted to be able to smell them at will, to keep her close to him at least that way.

A soft knock at the door signalled their meal had arrived. Dom gave no thought to the gossip it would cause amongst the other staff and strode to the door without blinking.

"Oh!" The young maid gasped when she recognised Dom. "Beg pardon. Miss Daria called for a meal."

"Bring it in Maria, set it on the table." Dom stepped aside and waited while the young kitchen maid laid out their meal on the table. "Thank you." He told her as he closed the door.

He could almost hear her excited giggles in his mind as she flew back down to the kitchens to tell what she'd seen. 'Security Master Dominique was in Miss Daria's chambers and he had wet hair!' he could hear it now, it was going to be unbearable for a while, until he stamped it out that is.

He busied himself laying out their meal while Daria finished in the bathroom. The water was off now so he knew she'd be with him again soon. He did as he would have if they were in their cafe. He halved the bread between the two small plates. He cut several thick wedges of cheese for each of them and laid them next to the bread. He poured coffee into the two tiny cups and then put one at Daria's place and the other at his. When he was satisfied he went to stand by the windows. He watched the last of the tourists leave via the eastern gate and then his employees lock it and go about their rounds. They'd walk the perimeter three times over the next hour to make sure that no tourists remained. They would report to him when the castle was secure. He should be back in his office before that. That gave him one more precious hour before he had to leave her.

The smell of her shampoo wafted out with her as she came out of the bathroom dressed in a soft sweater and clean jeans. Her hair was dripping wet and never looked lovelier. Her face was scrubbed until it shone and her eyes were clear and bright. Gone were the red rims from her tears.

"Come sit and eat with me Dom." She said softly and took her chair.

He joined her and they shared their meal in amiable silence for a while. The coffee was hot and strong and Daria savoured every mouthful. Dom watched her intently, making sure she enjoyed every bite of her bread and cheese and that the soup was to her liking. He knew she liked it lukewarm and with no extra salt added.

He took surreptitious glances at the clock and hated that he'd soon have to leave her. He rose from the table when their meal was done. "I have to go, dearest. The men will finish their security checks in a few moments and they will expect me to be in my office."

He moved away from the table and Daria got to her feet almost in panic. Nothing had been decided, nothing was settled, and she wasn't ready for him to leave her yet. "Will you come back, after?" She asked quietly.

He had wanted her to invite him back but he'd never suggest it himself. With a wide smile he said that he would. "I will finish up this evenings business and come back, if you'll have me?" He asked carefully. He stepped slightly closer to her and took her hand in his. He kissed her knuckles and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. When she shivered he lifted his eyes to hers. "May I bring some of my night things with me, dearest?" He asked carefully.

Daria sucked in a deep breath and blinked rapidly. She knew what he was asking her, she knew what this would mean. If they gave themselves to each other there was no going back. They'd have a bond that would transcend both his humanity and her duality. She nodded violently. "Yes, bring your things here." She whispered.

He smiled widely and stepped closer to her. Cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand he leaned in and placed the smallest, softest kiss at the corner of her mouth. "One hour, I will return in one hour." He promised her and then he slipped out the door and pulled it closed behind him softly.

He ran down the three flights of stairs to his ground floor office and sunk into his chair with a contented sigh. He would finish up his chores with his men, see them off on their night-time patrols and then return to his room and collect some personal things. Then he would return to his love. When the first of his men arrived to give him the all clear he marked it off on his report with an unusual flourish to his signature. When the last arrived he hurriedly marked them off and stowed the report in its folder.

Dominique ran through the hallways to his rooms in record time. He pulled his duffel bag from its resting place on the top of his closet and began to stuff his things into it. Spare clothes, his toothbrush, his shaving gear, hairbrush and his family bible.

He took the stairs two at a time and then had to wait three full minutes before knocking at her door. He tried his best to calm down but it was a futile effort. He was still breathing heavier than normal when she opened the door to him. He dropped the duffel bag at his feet the instant the door was closed and reached for her.

Daria had spent the hour wisely. She'd dried her hair and brushed it until it shone gold in the light from the candles she'd lit. She'd changed into a floor length nightgown made from hand embroidered yellow silk, brought back from China for her by her Aunt Carmen. Incense burned in a little holder at the windowsill and the room was neat as a pin. The dishes from their dinner were gone and in their place stood a posy of violets in a small glass bowl.

Dominique pulled her carefully towards him and held her at her waist firmly. He dipped his nose into the hollow behind her ear and inhaled. A warm mix of her shampoo and some spicy perfume met his nose. "Dearest." He groaned before kissing her ever so softly there. "Are you sure?" He asked her.

They both knew this was crossing a line. If he stayed with her, that night, there would be no way to return to the innocent, almost platonic relationship they'd share up to that point. This would mark their determination to move forward and he needed to know this was what she wanted before he touched her again.

He had no intention of making love to her but she couldn't know that. Without being told he knew that she had never known another. She was too nervous, too unprepared, and too fragile for someone who'd known the physical love before.

"Yes Dom, I am sure. You are who I want." She whispered, bringing her hands up into his hair and tugging gently to get him to kiss her throat again.

With a quiet groan he let his tongue snake out and taste the soft creamy flesh of her throat. He shuddered. "You are all I've ever wanted Daria." He said hoarsely and raised his eyes to hers. He brought his hand to her face and ran the pad of his thumb across the apple of her cheek. "I'm going to kiss you now." He warned her, giving her the option to pull away if she wanted to.

Instead of pulling away she smiled. She stood a full foot shorter than him and yet they fit. Their bodies touching from knee to breast they fit and as he dipped his mouth to hers to taste her lips for the very first time they both sighed. A jolt of desire shot through her body, the likes of which she'd never known. A deep, fire like need began to manifest itself inside Dom. He wanted her as he'd never wanted another and as her lips parted hesitantly and his tongue found hers for the very first time he knew, in his gut and in his heart he knew that she was what he'd been waiting for.

Later, tucked into the crook of his arm as they slept, Daria dreamed of Dom in her bed forever.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you have found something of interest in this chapter. Please review if you have, and if you have not please review and tell me you hated it so I can fix it. **


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15 – Year One – Pre Nuptial Arrangement

**BPOV**

Hearing Nessa say 'mine' while holding Seth the way she was was like taking a sucker punch to the gut. No warning just bam!

Edward had described his possessive feelings for me so many times I felt as though I had heard that expression a million times. 'Mine'. I said it often, I thought it often hell I'd screamed it often enough during sex with Edward. But I was an adult. Edward was an adult and had been an adult for over a hundred years before he ever thought it or said it to me.

Nessa was seven. Seth was seventeen. His imprinting on her had always, as far as I was concerned anyway, been one sided. I knew she loved him, but possession? I'd never considered that she felt that way for him, that he belonged to her the way she belonged to him.

It was still such a foreign concept to me, the imprinting process. I understood need and the idea of desperately needing to be with someone wasn't an alien theory for me either, but again, I was an adult. Could a small child feel those things? Should a small child feel them?

Esme's gasp told me she didn't understand it either. Like me she'd been imprinted on, neither of us had experienced the other side of that coin. I reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly as the scene unfolded in my living room.

I looked to Edward who looked shaken. His reaction was always going to be either a violent one or an accepting one. It looked as though he'd settled for a little of both for now. His right fist was clenched but his left hand was currently engaged in pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you alright Sethy?" Nessa asked Seth gravely.

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm good punkin." He let her down and then sat on the edge of the armchair and pulled her into his lap. "You don't need to worry."

"I _was_ worried. I heard Jonathon say you fell down. You're big and strong so how come you fell over?" She asked. I could see she was worried, she couldn't understand how someone like him could just topple over.

I looked to Edward again to see what he planned to do but he was smiling. Something one of them had thought had lightened his mood considerably and I began to relax.

"I'll be at the big house, you should all come up soon to get ready." Esme whispered.

"Thanks, mom." I whispered back. I let her hand slip from mine and I heard the soft click of the front door as she pulled it shut behind her. She knew without being told that we had things to talk about as a family.

I went to Edward's side and pulled him down onto the piano bench with me. Seth's futon bed dominated the room so the bench was the last place we could sit.

Seth looked to where we were with pleading in his eyes. He wanted to know what he should tell her. "Be honest." Edward whispered to him. "Nessa, sweetheart, daddy needs you to drop your shield while we talk to you, alright?"

Nessa eyed him for a few seconds then nodded. She closed her eyes as though she needed to physically move her shield aside and I wondered if she actually did.

Seth squared his shoulders and sunk down into the armchair. Nessa sat on his knees, eyes wide while she waited for information. With my hand clutched in Edward's we listened as Seth told Nessa about his fear.

**Randall POV**

I was getting married today!

It was incredible and frightening and brilliant all at once and I felt sick. I retched into the toilet and then collapsed against the cool tiled floor.

"Dude, you alright in there?" Emmett called out to me through the bathroom door.

I groaned in acknowledgment that I'd heard him but coherent speech was still a ways off.

I was lying on the floor of Emmett's bathroom. I'd been told to piss off from the Cullen house. I'd only just gotten there too, having run all the way from Port Angeles with Jonathon and Ethan. They were allowed to stay there, I had to go to Emmett's so I wouldn't see Katie before the wedding. I hadn't planned for that. I wanted to see her, wanted to make sure she was okay.

Actually that was bullshit. I wanted to see her to make sure she still wanted me like I wanted her. I'd spent the night before acting like a dickhead in some pisspoor excuse for a bar in the middle of Buttfuck Forks and I wanted to know if she'd heard about it and whether or not she was pissed. I didn't want to turn up, in a monkey suit, only to find out she'd jilted me for being a prick the night before.

I retched again and then sat back against the vanity unit. Nothing was ever going to come out of my gut, I knew that, but I could retch still, which seemed like some cosmic joke sent to piss me off. Why let us hoik if nothing was gonna come out? It was cruel.

Emmett began bashing on the door then. "If you don't say something I'll knock the fucking door in dipshit." He bellowed.

"No you won't, it's brand new." I chuckled darkly. My throat felt dry and sore which made about as much sense as the dry retching. "I'm coming out so fuck off from the doorway man."

I washed my face in the sink and dried it on one of the pink towels. This was Angel's bathroom after all.

I fingered the small box in my pocket and tried to gather myself. I'd waited nearly seventy years for this and I was finally going to have a wife. I needed to get my shit together or I'd puke on her when she got to the preacher.

I opened the door and found Emmett slumped against the wall opposite. "You okay?" He asked.

I followed him down the hallway and into his living room. "Yeah, just fucking nervous." I slumped into an armchair and let my head loll over the back of it.

He threw himself into another one and took up the Xbox controller from the coffee table. "What are you nervous about? It's not like the concept of eternity is a foreign fucking concept for you, is it you pussy?" He laughed.

I watched him navigate a complicated racetrack like a pro. "It's just general nerves." I told him.

"Useless emotion." He shrugged. "You love her she loves you. You wanna boink her brains out, sorted."

I laughed because it was all so black and white for Emmett. His head must be a pretty great place to live sometimes. "I agree." I laughed. "Chuck me a controller, I'll whip your ass round the _**Nürburgring." **_

_**He threw it to me and we settled in for some fierce competition. He was good but I thought I might just be better. **_

_"**What do you make of the punk last night?" He asked out of the blue. **_

_**I knew he meant Seth. "Dunno. Eddie said he was scared shitless, never seen a reaction like that before though." I told him as I slid around a tight corner. **_

_"**Me either." Emmett slammed his car into the side of mine. "Take that asshole!" He crowed. "He's usually a real fierce sort of kid. He fought like a man possessed during training. Took out that bitch Santiago without blinking so I dunno what he's got to be scared of." **_

_**I slid my car around a hairpin bend and collected the tailgate of his. "Move it or lose it bitch." I yelled as he cursed. I pushed past him while he was swerving from my hit and he fell back behind me. "I don't reckon he's scared of anything now fuckwad. I reckon he feinted because we were in the clearing. You know, delayed reaction or post traumatic stress or some shit." I crossed the finish line first and shot out of my chair and did a little victory dance. **_

_**Emmett threw his controller onto the coffee table and scowled at me. "Yeah, laugh it up asswipe. You better enjoy the feeling of victory right now because in about two hours you're gonna say goodbye to your free will, your self esteem and your ability to make decisions for yourself. Put that in your hat and smoke it, bitch." **_

_**I only thought about what he'd said for about three seconds and then I dropped the controller to the floor and fled back to Angel's bathroom. I retched for a good twenty minutes. Emmett stood outside the door the whole time, regaling me with horror stories of the shit he'd had to give up, or the times he'd had to give in to Rosie in one way or another. **_

_**I was fucked. I was fucked and he knew it. **_

_"**They guys are here, you better take a shower and get your head together man. Alice will be here in an hour to make sure we're dressed right." He laughed. **_

_**I groaned. He was right. Once I'd said 'I do' I'd never be able to make another choice for myself without consulting Katie. I'd never be able to just take off whenever I wanted to. I was committing myself to never, ever again taste human blood. I shuddered. How the fuck was I supposed to know if that's what I wanted for eternity? **_

_**I got under the hot water and tried to calm down. I knew this was what I really wanted. It's what I'd wanted my whole life but didn't think I was worthy enough to have it. I was a killer, and a good one which made it worse. Until I met Edward and the Cullen's I'd never given any thought to how it would be to survive without human blood. I knew it was possible but I didn't know why anyone would want to bother, let alone make the sacrifice. **_

_**But after spending time with them, watching the way they had reclaimed their humanity the reasons became clear to me. Katie was worth it, I was worth it. It really wasn't much of a sacrifice after all. **_

_"**Come on Randy, your bride awaits." I heard Edward call from outside the bathroom.**_

_**I cringed and then I said something I vowed I'd never say to him. "Don't fucking call me Randy." **_

**Kate POV**

"This is it little sister." Tanya told me before kissing my cheek.

I held still while she pulled the white sheath over my head and settled it on my body. I smoothed it down over my hips and ran a hand over the soft satin. It was no more than a long nightgown but it was beautiful none the less.

It was stark white with tiny spaghetti straps and a zigzag pattern of silver and white crystal beads that went from under my right breast to across my left hip then all the way to the floor.

"It's gorgeous." Irina cooed as she lifted the hem so I could slide on my shoes.

"It is." I agreed. When my feet were securely into the heels I turned and looked at myself in the mirror on the back of Alice' closet door. I hadn't been allowed to look at myself while they worked on me.

Rosalie had done my hair and I loved it. A cascade of soft wavy curls fell over one shoulder and down my back. It was simple and it suited the simplicity of the dress perfectly.

My makeup was subtle and soft. I couldn't believe it was me I was looking at. What was more incredible was that I was about to be married. To Randall!

"Hey, steady there." Alice caught my arm as I swayed. "You okay?" She asked with a smirk.

"Yes, I will be. I need this to be over now." I giggled.

"I know sweetie, it will be, very soon. They guys are coming up from Rosie's house now so I need you to stay to this side of the house so they can't see you, alright?" She asked.

"Okay." I looked at my watch and shuddered. Ten minutes to go.

"Okay girls." She called and I turned towards the doorway to see who and what was going on.

Esme came in first. She held a small posy of orange blossoms and pale cream rose buds. "Dearest cousin Kate. I wish you all luck on your marriage today." She handed me the posy and I smiled at her warmly. She was more like a mother to me than a cousin and I loved her dearly. "For your something borrowed I'd be honoured if you would wear my choker. I wore it when I married Carlisle you know."

She took a short belt of pearls from her other hand and held them out for me to inspect. "Oh they're lovely, are you sure?"

She nodded and moved behind me to fasten the clasp. Two rows of gleaming pearls with a small cluster of white diamonds at the centre hung around my neck, just above the curve where my collarbones met. It was perfect. I hugged her tightly and she left.

Carmen came in then. She too held a small posy of the orange blossom and roses. She handed them to me and I tightened my fist around the two bouquets. She kissed me softly on the cheek. "Congratulations beautiful girl, I know you'll be very happy together."

"Thank you." I whispered, almost overcome.

"For your something blue I'd be honoured if you'd wear my sapphire earrings. They belonged to my mother before me and we both wore them when we married." She told me as she opened her hand to reveal a sparkling pair of plain sapphire drop earrings.

"Thank you so much, they're beautiful." I told her. She dropped them into my palm and closed my fingers over them then left.

I had sort of worked out what they were doing by that point so I expected a couple more visitors. I wasn't shocked when Rosie came in next. She too passed me a small posy. "Good luck Katie. He's a good guy and he loves you, it's so obvious that you love him too." She kissed my cheek and then stepped back. She was smiling widely. "So, for your something old I want you to carry this handkerchief. I've had it since the twenties so it counts as old now." She giggled. As she tucked it into the little lace satchel that hung from my wrist she told me the significance of it. "In my day people believed that if the bride cried during her own wedding it meant that she wouldn't need to cry during the marriage. So shed some tears today Katie, even dry ones count." She laughed.

I hugged her tightly. "Thanks so much Rosie."

That just left something new. Alice came in when Rosie went out and she was smiling widely too. "I guess that's that then. Now for your something new." She trilled.

She took the three posies from my hands and took a wide white satin ribbon from the top of her dresser. She wound the ribbon around the taped handles of the posies to make one big bouquet. She handed it to me with a smile. "They all wanted to be a part of your day today, we thought winding the three posies together to make one big one would mean you could keep us all with you while you took your vows." She stared at me for a few seconds and when I didn't say anything she tilted her head to the side a bit. "Too corny, right?" She asked.

I threw my arms around her then. "Thank you so much Alice, its perfect." I let her go and she huffed about my makeup a bit.

"Now, for the something new." She took a small black box from the dresser and handed it to me. "Bella collected them yesterday, Randall has yours already."

I took the ring from the box and slipped it into my satchel. In a break with tradition I wanted to keep it with me, rather than the best man holding it. I wanted it to be only me who touched it today before I put it on Randall's finger, where it would stay forever.

"I think I'm all set." I whispered.

"I think you are too. You're perfect." She said quietly. She held out her arm for me and I took it. "Let's get you married." She said as she led me from the room.

**Romania**

Dominique stood in the kitchen with as many of the household staff in the room as could fit. There were some who, unavoidably, were already at their stations and doing their early morning jobs. But the bulk of the castles inside staff were there.

It was Dominique's job to inform the staff of any comings and goings with the family and also his job to maintain the morale and safety of the staff both inside and outside the castles walls. The farmers relied on him to ensure their safety while they worked the fields too.

Reading from his notepad he told the staff that Lord Eleazar would be arriving in the early evening. That he was travelling alone, Lady Carmen had not accompanied him so the ladies maids could relax.

"I have inspected his chambers and you've done a good job Tora." He said kindly to the elderly woman who took care of Eleazar when he was in situ. "Jerome I will need you to see to Eleazar's needs in the town this trip. He may want to travel down to Deva on occasion and he'll need the car to be ready at all times. Lady Ana is not to be disturbed at any time, I need you all to be vigilant in this. Nobody is to enter her chamber, not even to change her sheets. This is a request direct from our Lady so I expect you all to remain on floors lower than the fourth." He said firmly. He turned his notepad to the next page. "I am aware that there is a folk festival on in the town at the weekend and I'm sorry for those of you who will have to work a little longer over the coming days to accommodate Lord Eleazar, but I'll try to give you all an equal amount of time to enjoy yourselves down there."

There was some quiet twittering then from the assembled staff. The folk festivals happened three times a year, weather permitting, and were a welcome attraction in a town where excitement was a rarity. The staff would all normally partake in one way or another. Either drinking in the massive beer halls or singing and dancing long into the night around the bonfires. Dominique knew they were all excited to be able to indulge.

"Will you be joining us this time Master Dominique?" Maria asked with a giggle.

Dominique had heard the whispers, the gossip was rife throughout the castle with everyone speculating on the nature of the relationship with Daria. As far as he knew it was a good natured line of gossip, nobody felt any malice toward him for having crossed that invisible boundary between worker and the aristocracy. Modern thinking about equality was yet to reach the smaller towns and villages in Romania.

Dom wanted to take Daria to the folk festival, he wanted her to see how much fun could be had, but he wasn't sure she'd go. "I'm not sure yet." He told them honestly. "I know there has been a lot of whispering and some gossip, Maria," he frowned at her playfully, "About my relationship with Lady Daria. I won't reveal details, so don't ask, but yes, I am living in her chambers with her. Make of it what you will, say what you will, I don't mind. But do not, and I must warn you how serious this is, do not let Lady Daria or Lord Raul hear any of it. You will be instantly dismissed if your gossip mongering reaches their ears. Have I made myself clear?" He asked sternly.

A choreographed chorus of 'yes sir' rang out through the kitchen and Dominique smiled warmly at his friends and colleagues.

Maria stepped forward then. "Congratulations Master Dominique." She said with a wide smile. "We all wish you both well."

Another chorus of 'hear hear' and 'we hope you'll be very happy together' was heard.

Dominique blushed. "Thank you. Now, you all need to get back to work or there will be no time to be had at the festival. Go on." He shouted as they all began to make their way out of the kitchen.

As the last of them filtered out he moved to Raul's side in the hallway that led back to the offices. He'd seen him there before he'd begun to speak. It wasn't often that Raul listened in on the morning meeting, but it wasn't a rarity either.

"You handled that very well." Raul praised his security advisor. "Alas, I now know about the gossip." He laughed lightly.

"Ahh, yes, I apologise for that. But, you were likely to hear it no matter how quietly it travelled through these walls, weren't you?" Dominique asked cautiously, testing the information he now possessed about vampiric abilities.

The two men began to walk back down the hall towards Raul's office for their morning debrief. "Yes, I will hear them. As long as they are relatively respectful I'll allow it for now." Raul sniggered. "And you should take Dabi to the festival. It would do her good to associate with the locals a bit more." Raul opened his office door and ushered Dominique through it. They took their usual places on opposite sides of the massive desk and Dominique took his notepad out of the breast pocket of his uniform. "Now, your living arrangements with my sister are your business, but I am trusting you to be cautious."

Raul scrubbed at the back of his neck with his hand, something Dominique had never seen him do. He looked nervous. About what Dominique had no clue. "Please, sir, speak freely to me of Daria." Dominique begged.

Raul huffed lightly at the continued use of 'sir' but reasoned that it had been eleven years of obedience and servitude for Dominique, the habit would take a while to break. "Alright, I will be blunt. As far as I am aware she is innocent. Indulging in the pleasures of the flesh can sometimes be a loud and sometimes unavoidably destructive activity for our kind." Raul was mortified at having to spell this out to the man, but it had to be said, to protect them all. "No matter how human Daria believes herself to be she will, quite likely, either hurt you or find herself unable to control her feelings and physical reactions when the two of you indulge." He cringed at the crude terminology he needed to use, but it was safer to have it all laid out. "I have no point of reference for hybrids, perhaps Eleazar will, but you need to be aware of the possible dangers. I will leave the two of you to consult with him on that alone. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you Dominique?" Raul asked.

Dominique was mortified but he too understood the need to know everything he could. "I think so, yes. I can assure you that we will be careful and cautious when the time comes." He smiled a little at Raul's raised eyebrows. "There is another matter I wish to ask of you, Lord Raul." Dominique was aware that his formality would annoy Raul, but in this instance it was proper.

Raul hissed softly. "I prefer you call me Raul, but please continue."

"From whom do I ask for Lady Daria's hand?" Dominique asked with a smile.

That caught Raul by complete surprise. He'd never considered that they'd want to marry, but perhaps it was a logical next step. "Eleazar, you should ask for her hand from Lord Eleazar, he is the head of this family now."

**BPOV**

I was so pleased when Edward said we should get ready for the wedding. Our whole morning had been spent consoling Nessa then Seth as they talked to us about their continuing fears and how to overcome them.

I knew that the four of us would be okay, I didn't doubt that for one second, but I couldn't help feeling stupid for really believing that the hardest part would be defeating the Romanians. The aftermath was going to leave ripples in our existence for a decade, maybe more. It had been naive to think that our problems would end when we ended the Romanian army. We'd just switched those problems for a whole new set.

The outcome of our talk that morning was that we would all work harder to help each other. Nessa said she felt safe and I believed her, but I couldn't help wonder if, like me, she only truly felt safe when the four of us were together.

As I slid my dress over my head I berated myself for not asking her that. There would be an opportunity though. Edward had promised to take the four of us to the cabin for the weekend. He realized, as I did, that we needed time alone, just the four of us, to be together and to help each other. There had to be a lot more talking done and a lot more sharing before any of us would be able to shake the terrible fears we all held. So on Friday the four of us would leave when our guests did.

I clipped the strap on my high heeled sandals into place and stood in front of the mirror. Not bad I thought. The dress Alice had chosen for me wasn't my usual style, or colour, but I liked it all the same. It was a sheath of floor length obsidian shot satin. It was halter necked and its ties crisscrossed over themselves as they wound around my neck. That left a small gap, a teardrop shape, of bare flesh at the base of my throat. Edward would love that!

It covered my tattoo even though the bodice was quite low. Around my waist was a second skirt that gathered just below my right hip in a tight twist then fell to the floor with the underskirt. I had shiny silver heeled sandals on and a matching silver bag. My hair was just loose and I'd brushed it out after a quick shower so the steam had loosened the curls a bit.

"We should go Isabella." Edward called from the living room.

I'd left him to sort out Seth. Seth hated a suit, like most men, but Edward had insisted he wear one. The only concession for the men today would be no ties. Kate hadn't wanted the ceremony to be too formal so they were allowed to just wear jackets and vests if they wanted to.

Nessa was wearing a dress Alice had made Edward collect in the city yesterday. When I took it out of its bag I hated it. Chocolate brown for a seven year old? But when she put it on just now I could see why Alice had chosen it.

Her skin was so beautiful that she glowed in the dress. Her hair looked amazing against it and her sparkling chocolate brown eyes matched it perfectly.

The dress was calf length, nipped in at her waist and tied with a brown satin bow at her navel. The centre of the bow had three tiny diamantes sewn into it and that was the only adornment on the whole dress, and it was perfect.

Plain cream ballet slippers and her Cullen crest necklace completed her outfit and with her hair pulled back into a high ponytail she looked elegant. She had begged me to use a little of the makeup Edward had bought for her so I applied a little lip gloss and some blush to her already rosy cheeks. She looked so much older than she really was. Edward had gasped when she trotted out into the living room to show the two boys how she looked.

They had left me to my own devices while I got ready and now that I was I was really looking forward to this wedding. Like Angel's christening it was destined to be a long night of dancing and fun but it was the ceremony I most wanted to see. I loved weddings, preferably other peoples, and I loved to watch the look on the grooms face when his bride arrived.

"I'm ready." I called as I grabbed for my little purse off the bed. I went out into the living room to join them for the walk to the big house.

Edward came to my side instantly. "My god." He whispered into my hair as he kissed my temple. "You are stunning, perfect."

I smiled widely. "Thank you." I kissed his cheek lightly. "And you, sir, are so very handsome. You both are." I told the two boys.

Seth wore his good black suit with a plain white shirt underneath. His black shoes were so shiny they looked like glass. Edward was wearing the suit I loved on him most. Single breasted, charcoal grey with tailored pants and his shiny black dress shoes too. Instead of his usual shirt however, this time he wore a sexier than should be legal white Mandarin collared dress shirt with black buttons. No tie, no buttonhole, just sex on legs.

He was grinning at me as though I were his next meal and I wished, for the thousandth time, that I could still read him. "We should go, we'll be late." He held his arm out for me and I took it.

Seth took Nessa's hand and we all walked up to the house together.

We'd been spared the last minute preparations this morning but Alice was still in clipboard mode when we got there. She was loudly trying to make Jasper restring the lights around the decking when we showed up.

"Sorry babe, we three are expected at Emmett's." He kissed her on the cheek and ran at us. He grabbed both Seth and Edward by the sleeve and pulled them along with him.

"See you later, love." Edward called over his shoulder as he happily ran away towards Rose and Emmett's house.

"Bastard." I muttered darkly and smiled up at Alice from the foot of the stairs.

"Um ah, you said a naughty word mommy." Nessa giggled before running up the steps two at a time and racing on ahead into the house. I heard her call for Esme as Alice came down the steps to meet me.

"I have a little job for you." She linked her arm through mine and I cringed. There was never an escape hatch around when I needed one.

She led me out to the front yard and thrust a folded piece of paper into my hand. "I need you to do that and be back here before the ceremony, okay?" And then she ran off back into the house.

I unfolded the paper and read it. Then I relaxed, this errand was an easy one, for a change. I bent down and unhooked my sandals. I threw them up onto the front porch and took off at a sprint. Down the driveway and through the trees across the road. I tore through the forest towards my parents house.

I slowed when I hit the trees in their backyard. I straightened my gown and smoothed out my hair as much as I could without a brush. Then I casually walked out of the trees as though I'd taken a leisurely stroll through the woods.

I slipped alongside the house and spotted my intended target sitting prettily in their driveway. I gave a little whistle then climbed the stairs and knocked on the kitchen door.

My mother answered. "Hello darling!" She threw herself at me and hugged me tightly. She'd gone a bit touchy feely since remarrying Charlie. With no regard for her personal safety she clung to me.

I still had to hold my breath but her scent didn't incite me or anything anymore. "Hey mom. Alice sent me to collect you and the car." I told her.

"It's a beauty." She told me as she turned and went back into the kitchen.

I noticed that the cabinets had been redone and the boring linoleum flooring had been replaced by bright white tile. "It looks good in here." I told her.

She smiled. "Yeah, we've had a little work done." She grabbed her purse off the counter and we went back outside and into the car. My dad couldn't come today, he was on duty, but he'd come for the party later tonight.

The car was to be a gift from all of the Cullen's to the happy couple. They would be driving it to Seattle tonight after the wedding so I had to get it from my parents to the big house without either of them seeing it. Shouldn't be too hard, Kate would be preoccupied getting ready and Randall was at Emmett's. But I still had to sneak it up the driveway and put it into the garage, in the empty spot where the chairs had stood the day before. Carlisle's poor Mercedes was still in the drive with a cover over it. He probably wasn't amused.

Nessa threw herself at my mom when we finally got inside. We weren't there more than ten minutes when Alice announced it was time and we should all go outside and get seated. I settled Nessa into a seat beside Seth and then went back to my duties as photographer.

I looked towards Randall and Jonathon and gave them both a smile. Randall looked dashing in a plain black suit with a white vest and open shirt under it. No ties and no buttonholes, just plain, simple suits. They both looked amazing.

I snapped away at the two of them until they started pulling stupid faces. I began taking pictures of the guests then, while we waited for Kate to appear.

Edward had been asked to give Kate away and he was so very proud to do it. With Carlisle officiating the ceremony itself, and Eleazar away, that made Edward the obvious choice.

I giggled when I spotted Emmett and Jasper's shoes tucked underneath them while they sat patiently. They wore the silver sneakers they'd worn at my wedding and Alice was seething at them both and then she turned to scowl at me over her shoulder. I mouthed 'sorry' for giggling and snapped one or two photos of them both then turned to face the back of the tent like everyone else who was waiting for their first glimpse of the bride.

I'd taken dozens of pictures of her today already but I wanted to capture the moment she came to the head of the aisle.

Rosie began playing Edward's piano and as Irina and Kate made their way along the narrow red carpet everyone stood so they could honour the bride as she made her way into the tent.

She looked so beautiful in her slip dress, her hair a mess of curls along her shoulder. She smiled so widely and looked so happy. Edward was beautiful too. I know I should think of him as handsome but I couldn't. He was beautiful.

He winked at me just as I snapped the shutter on my camera and I giggled softly, it would make a great picture. I mirrored his wink then turned to look at Randall. This was my favourite part.

He was trembling, I could see it, even four rows back from the front I could make out the thrumming of his thumb against his thigh. I wished my camera could capture that tiny movement, but it couldn't. Instead I'd have to be content with the look of terror on his face. Jonathon stood beside him, his best man and sire. Randall's eyes were wide and it looked as though he was seeing her for the very first time as she made her way to his side.

I stepped off to the side further so that I could capture his eyes as Kate came into view. I took a hundred photos in the few seconds it took Kate and Edward to get from the opening in the tent to in front of Carlisle.

Edward passed Kate's hand to Randall's and then stepped back a little. I snapped away at the pride on Edward's face as Kate faced her fiancé in front of the preacher. I also snapped the obvious joy on Carlisle's face as he blessed them both.

Carlisle began the ceremony and when he asked who it was that was giving Kate to the marriage Edward answered that he was in a loud clear voice. He stepped away then and came to sit in our row, beside my mother. She was dabbing at her eyes with Seth's hanky. It made me remember to look at Esme, who was dabbing at dry eyes with Edward's. If it wasn't so sweet it would be hilarious.

Within minutes Kate and Randall were married and were practically running back down the aisle!

**EPOV**

I was very proud to give Kate away. I'd always loved and admired her for her quiet reverence. Tanya could be loud and brash and Irina crude and lewd, but Kate always held herself with a little more dignity than the others. I often thought she was very like me. Happy in her own company, quietly confident and not overtly sexual, but now that she'd found her mate she too had blossomed and come into her own, just like everyone said of me.

She would be good for Randall too, I thought as I watched them make their first circuit of the dance floor as husband and wife. She would calm him down, he would spice up her life at little.

She could only think of her new husband and how blissfully happy she was to now wear his ring as they danced. His thoughts were for her and only her, for a change.

Jonathon tapped him on his shoulder and took over the dance with Kate. Irina stepped in to dance with her new brother in law and Tanya and Aro took their places alongside their coven mates. In the absence of Eleazar Carlisle stepped in and began dancing with Carmen.

Soon the floor filled with other couples and the evening's entertainment began properly. I danced with Bella twice before having to bear – with as much good grace as I could muster, which wasn't much – her dancing with Randall then Jonathon then Ethan.

I was surrounded by bloody Australians!

I took Renee into my arms and twirled her around the floor for several dances. She was surprisingly good, but of course she'd once taught ballet and her natural grace and balance shone through. Charlie arrived and took her from me after a little while and I was able to drag my daughter away from Seth long enough to sneak in a few dances with her too.

Bella bore her off to bed quite late, and without any arguments which was nice, for a change. Angel went to bed at the same time as Nessa and then it was time for the fun of seeing the happy couple off on their honeymoon. I always looked forward to this part, watching the newlyweds drive off, or run off in some cases, to start their new lives together.

Isabella had been sent to collect their gift and I knew it was in the garage, safe and sound. I also knew my brothers had done something to it. Bella knew too, I think, because it had been to her that Emmett had given his list yesterday.

Kate came back downstairs in a lovely gold satin gown and Randall had changed out of his black suit and into some dark jeans and a navy button down. He looked respectable for the first time since I'd known him. I shook his hand and gave him my congratulations and then I kissed Kate on the cheek and told her how happy I was for her.

This action was mirrored a hundred times as everyone in the gathered crowd said their goodbyes to the happy couple.

A very nice moment was had when Randall was congratulated by Jonathon. As his sire it felt good to Jonathon that his 'son' was finally happy and had found his mate. It made Jonathon long to find his, but he was happy for his progeny.

Randall had been told that a vehicle would be made available to them so they could get themselves away to Seattle after the ceremony, but nobody had told them that the keys Carlisle pressed into his hand were the keys to _their_ new vehicle.

"Drive carefully Randall. If you break it you'll only be hurting yourself." Carlisle chuckled.

Randall was about to say something jokingly about breaking one of my beloved toys when it clicked for him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

I stepped forward and pressed the insurance and registration cards into his hand. "Congratulations you two. This is from all of us gathered, we hope you like it."

Everyone cheered and called as we led the newlyweds out into the driveway. There stood a shiny silver Mercedes SLK 55 AMG. It was stunning and I loved it, a lot. The only problem was it was now covered, from front to back, in row after row of inflated condoms. Emmett and Jasper had tied them, like balloons, onto long strings and then attached the strings all along the car. 'Just Married' was done in shaving cream along the back window and I could see that the interior of the car was also filled with condoms, though these were still in their packets, thankfully.

"Gee, thanks." Randall drawled when the car came into view. But then his thoughts sobered. He was looking for me in the crowd. He'd known I'd arranged this. He'd guessed that I'd done it yesterday, while I was in the city. He found me and strode right to me. He held his hand out and I shook it eagerly. "Thank you, for everything. For making me free. For valuing my input in the council. For giving Katie away today. For arranging this car. For everything." He said with a choked voice.

I glanced at Kate who stood beside the passenger side of the car smiling warmly at her husband. '_He loves you like a brother, Edward. And so do I. Thank you.' _She thought as she watched us.

"You are most welcome.' I told him honestly. "Go and make your wife happy." I told him to a rousing cheer from the crowd.

He ran back to the car and opened the door for Kate. When she was settled he ran back to me. "Where the fuck am I driving it to?" He laughed.

Nobody had thought to tell them where they should go!

I laughed like a man possessed. "Seattle. The Four Seasons. They're expecting you." I crowed as he ran back to the car and got in.

As they drove away in a hail of gravel and dust we could all clearly hear Randall laughing. "Best you brace yourself baby, I've been waiting for this for seventy years, I've got quite a log jam I need to give you!"

Kate's laughter was the last thing we heard from them for three days.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. This chapter had a bit of everything, didn't it? A little bit serious and a little bit of fun. I really enjoyed writing this wedding, so much less formal than Edward and Bella's big day. **

**I hope you've enjoyed it to and would love to know what you liked, as well as what you disliked. **

**Please review. **


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16 – Year One – Family Travels

**Romania**

Eleazar strolled into the courtyard and took in the scene before him. Tourists by the hundred crowded around the market stalls just as they always had. Farmers he recognised from his last trip manned the stalls, their wives and children eagerly took the money and haggled with the never ending stream of customers.

Making his way to the centre of the courtyard Eleazar stood beneath the rising spire that held the clock and smiled. He was home.

Raul strode out of the foyer and into the early evening shadows and clasped his Uncle with a desperation that shocked them both. They clung to each other as the clock struck seven.

As the sea of tourists parted, and they began to make their way down the hill towards the town, Raul ushered his Uncle once again into the castle and into his home.

"It is so good to see you Uncle. You have travelled well?" Came the familiar question.

"I did. Uneventful." Came the often hoped for answer. "But where is your sister?" Eleazar asked.

A wide smile came across Raul's face. "There is much to tell Eleazar. Come, see for yourself the changes in Dabi."

Daria was waiting in Raul's study, Dominique sitting beside her on the sofa. She was nervous and Dominique was trembling slightly. He knew and liked Eleazar, but this visit was different. It meant so much to them both that he was there. But for very different reasons.

Dominique stood immediately that Raul and Eleazar entered. He strode directly to the striking vampire, hand out stretched. "Lord Eleazar, welcome home sir." Dominique bowed lowly to the master of the castle.

"Rise Dominique. There is no need for such formality. Please, we go through this each visit, you must call me Eleazar." He chuckled.

"As you wish, sir." Dominique bowed again and then laughed when he realized he'd done it again.

"Daria, my dear, you look radiant." Eleazar folded his niece into his arms and held her tightly. She quivered ever so slightly at his touch and Eleazar wondered if it was out of fear or, like her brother, from the sheer relief of once again having family to cling to. He kissed her temple and took her hands in his. "Raul tells me there is much news."

Daria began to smile, a small smile at first and then a full faced grin that made her eyes sparkle. "There is Uncle Eleazar. I have so much to tell you, it is true. But Dominique would like to speak with you first." She kissed the backs of her Uncles hands, smiled at Raul and then fled the room.

"Master Dominique?" Eleazar turned to the security advisor with a raised eyebrow.

Dominique shuddered with nerves and looked to Raul for assurance. With a slight nod of his head Raul gave his encouragement and Dominique began to smile. "Lord Eleazar, as head of the family it is from you I seek permission to take Lady Daria's hand in marriage." He bowed low and waited to be told to rise.

Eleazar chuckled, a deep throaty chuckle and begged the man to rise. "How wonderful!" Eleazar boomed. "A wedding in the castle at last! Welcome to the family Dominique." He clapped Dom on the shoulder and shook his hand eagerly, then turned to Raul. "Do you trust him to keep her secret or do I have to kill him now?" Eleazar hissed playfully.

Dominique collapsed in a dead faint at Eleazar's feet.

**EPOV**

"Do you believe we have anything to worry about?" I asked Peter as he reclined on the deck chair on Emmett's front porch.

"I don't know yet, but it wouldn't be the first time, would it?" He said vaguely.

"Is that even an answer?" I chuckled. "Guys, can you come out here a minute please?" I called to my brothers.

They appeared at the glass door. "What's up bro?" Emmett asked. He took a seat on a deck chair while Jasper hoisted himself up onto the railing.

"We don't know yet if anything is 'up' as such, but can we run something by you?" I asked.

Jasper eyed me carefully. "Sure." He said.

I nodded to Peter. "So you know Eleazar took off early, well that's because he's gone home to Romania to see his family."

"Aw shit, really?" Emmett screwed up his face, his thoughts began to fill with the ways he'd like to tear into Eleazar.

Now, why didn't I expect that? If so many others didn't trust him why did I?

"What have you read from him, Ed?" Jasper asked reasonably.

"Nothing untoward, if that's what you're asking. Look, the council called him on it and he got very defensive, he put forth a good argument why he needed to go, and I agreed. I even gave my word that it would be an end to the animosity between us. But Peter isn't sure, are you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not. Jaz, you remember that time in Houston, about 1899 I think, you were holed up with Binks and we thought we'd crushed that group of newborns into oblivion. Houseman let that one kid go, gave him the benefit of the doubt, let him go on his way because we'd killed his brother and sister, figured the kid would go home and lick his wounds and reform his ways, settle down a bit." Peter recounted.

Jaz was nodding. "Yeah, I remember. The kid told us he'd just run home, swore he'd stay out of the Southern Wars from then on and we stupidly believed him." Jaz swore then. "Little fucker went straight home alright. Took him a year but he was back, bigger and stronger than ever and surrounded by eight newborn 'friends'." Jasper put the word friends into quotes with his fingers and cringed.

I figured I could guess the rest but Emmett asked Peter to finish the tale.

"It was a fucking bloody bath dude. Jack was the kid's name. He went home and brooded for a couple months then decided we'd wronged him by taking out his family. Decided to even the score. Raised himself an army of his own. It was a pretty ambitious plan considering there were hundreds of us, but he wasn't interested in taking out our army, he wanted Houseman. Got him too. He waited until we were engaged in another battle, a bigger one, then he got his army to creep up the back of a ridge and isolate Houseman from his troops. Tore him to pieces right there in the middle of another raging battle." Peter finished with a grimace.

"Is that what you think those kids have gone home to do?" Emmett asked me.

"I don't know. Peter doesn't trust Eleazar but do you really think he'd help those kids raise an army? You heard him, he only wanted to help them. And he was right in that, we murdered their family, he has a responsibility to them." I suggested.

Peter shrugged. "I don't know the man's mind Ed. I can't know what his intentions are anymore than I can know yours, or Emmett's. You can read him and if you think he's sincere then that's a hell of a lot more than I know. Unless you know something else?" He asked astutely.

I sighed, knowing it would tip my hand. "It's not much and it probably means nothing, plus it was said in the heat of the moment." I told them.

Jasper got down off his railing then. "If you know something we should all know it."

"Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that." I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. "This feels like déjà vu, doesn't it?" I asked him and he cringed his agreement. "Okay, so, I told the children, Raul and Daria just in case you're interested, and Ana, to run from the clearing. I'd already killed Stefan and Vladimir was gone and they were terrified we'd turn on them next. I had no intention of hurting innocent bystanders so I told them to run, to go home, I gave them my word nobody would pursue them." Peter already knew this part, from the council meeting, I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger and sighed out the last part. "As he was running Raul promised he'd come for me one day."

"Aww fuck." Emmett hissed. "Life was just getting good around here."

"Hang on, before we go jumping to conclusions lets think about it a bit first." Jasper begged. He began pacing the length of the porch as he formed his reasoning. "This Raul, he's youngish, right?" he asked me.

I didn't know for certain but I assumed he was inexperienced rather than 'young' for a vampire. "I can find out." I told him.

"Okay, until we know we won't speculate on his experience. Right. The girl, what is she like?" he asked me.

I scoffed a little at his choice of word. "She's like Nessa and Angel." I told him and watched both his and Jasper's eyes widen.

"You don't mean she's a kid, do you?" Emmett asked carefully.

"No, hybrid." I answered.

"Mother fucker." Peter muttered and I turned to him instantly.

"What?" I asked simply.

"Well, it's just one more thing to hate about Eleazar, isn't it?" He asked as though I knew what the fuck he was on about. He must have seen the exasperation on my face because he didn't wait for me to ask. "Eleazar knew hybrids existed. Don't you get it? When Bella fell pregnant he said nothing. I don't know when he found out, but you can bet it would've been long before you went all the way to Italy to meet Nathaniel, but he said nothing. Right?" He asked.

"Mother fucker." I echoed and so did Emmett. "Why didn't he say anything? What's to gain from that?" I was asking out loud just for my own benefit but Emmett answered.

"Because he was protecting his family. Son of a bitch let you guys worry all that time when he knew, he fucking knew, that the kid would be alright." He shouted. "That's why her existence wasn't such a big deal to him, why he didn't think twice about spilling his guts to Stefan and Vladimir, because there was one in Romania already anyway." Emmett concluded.

I concurred but I was pissed. "We don't know why he kept it to himself but you can bet your ass I'll be asking him one day soon." I mutter.

Jasper began to pace again, "Anyway, as I was saying, what we are dealing with is a grieving woman, a hybrid girl and a boy of dubious experience. They were all there on the day of the fight, they saw how many of us there were, saw what we were all capable of. They've gone home, even with his pissy threat ringing in your ears you've got to know he wouldn't stand a chance of winning if he wanted to come at us. Only a total moron would take us on." He finished with a flourish, waving his hands and grinning menacingly.

I relaxed a little then. He made good sense and he was committed to his reasoning, so was Peter.

"He's right. I would bet good money he's gone home and rebuilt his guard, especially if he's stepped into Stefan's shoes, but he's not stupid enough to bring them here for another go at us." He was nodding emphatically at Jasper. "He probably contacted Eleazar because he has no one else to ask things of. Hell, poor kid probably has no idea how to create a guard. And having a hybrid sister, gonna throw up some interesting issues I think."

"Well we've got no way to know until either Eleazar tells us or we find out for ourselves. No point worrying about nothing. Right Ed?" Emmett put the emphasis on my name and I looked up at him.

"Right." I mumbled. "But I'm telling Bella my thoughts _now._" I warned them. There was no way I was suffering through another separation.

"If you must." Peter smirked. "Jaz tells me you were a fucking nightmare to live with last time you kept a secret from her and she dumped your ass anyway." He laughed.

I didn't think it was funny, but laughed all the same, it felt better than feeling afraid.

**BPOV**

Edward was at Emmett's saying goodbye to Peter and Charlotte who would be leaving while we were on our short break at the cabin.

That left Nessa and I at the cottage packing a small bag for each of us. Of course Frank, her beloved giraffe, was the first to go into her bag. She put Scrabble in the bottom too and then asked if she could take her new makeup box. I said no, earning me a scowl and hand on her hip. We compromised and she was allowed to take a pot of lip gloss, a single compact of eye shadows and one bottle of nail polish.

My bag was much easier. Clean underwear, two pairs of clean jeans, two clean jerseys and a pair of bathers. I wouldn't need anything else. Edward's bag was identical except for him needing clean socks as well. Our toiletries went into a single waterproof pouch and it all fit neatly into the trunk of the Guardian ready for takeoff.

We got to see off Charles and Makenna and Tanya and Aro while we waited for the boys to be ready to leave. There weren't too many guests left over from the christening and wedding now.

Zafrina and Alistair had announced that they planned to live in Finland, of all places, and had happily gone off together to start their new lives together. Zafrina's former coven mates wished her well and the three of them parted ways in good spirits. Each of them having found a partner to share their lives with.

All the council members had gone home except for Dieter who seemed strangely reluctant to go home to Germany this time. Edward said he didn't know why he hadn't yet made plans to go, even though Rennie and Anna had gone home a few days prior. I didn't think there was much in Forks to hold his attention, but he was happily lounging on the sofa playing Crash Bandicoot with Jasper when we arrived.

Seth joined us at the big house at midday and added his small overnight bag to the trunk and a small backpack to the backseat. All we needed then was Edward.

He came running from the direction of Emmett's with Jasper. They were deep in conversation and he looked strained and drawn as he came in through the backdoor.

"Everything alright?" I asked as he came to me and kissed my temple.

"I'll tell you later." He whispered. "Are we all set?" He grabbed the Guardian keys from the kitchen counter and swung Nessa up onto his shoulders. "I bet I can beat you across the lake little one." He teased her.

"No way daddy, I've been practising. I'm super fast now, aren't I Nana-Me?" She asked Esme who was standing in the dining room archway ready to see us off.

"You might have your work cut out for you this time daddy," Esme teased, "Nessa is pretty quick these days." She winked at Nessa and the little girl giggled delicately. "Have a wonderful time, we'll see you on Monday." Esme kissed Nessa and Edward and then Seth and I.

"See you Monday." I called over my shoulder to anyone who was within earshot inside the house. We'd said our goodbyes to anyone who was leaving the area before then.

**EPOV**

I wanted to talk to Bella in private about my worries but there wasn't time or an appropriate private moment to do it yet. I definitely didn't want Seth or Renesmee within earshot when I told her what was bothering me. We hadn't quite fixed the last problem, so beginning another for them to deal with would be cruel and ultimately serve no purpose if nothing ever came of it.

So I'd have to bide my time and wait until evening, when I'd be alone with Bella, before I confided in her. She knew I had something on my mind so she'd ask the instant the opportunity arose.

I had promised Nessa she could have her own binoculars for the trip and even though I knew the only place in town that sold half decent pairs was Newtons Sporting Goods I drove there first.

Seth and Nessa stayed in the car while Bella and I went inside. I could've done it myself, alone, but Bella said she wanted to go in with me, just in case our old 'friend' was there. He bloody was, of course.

I smelled him before I saw him. His scent was still stored in my memory bank and I hissed softly as soon as I went in through the front door of the store. The bell on top of it announced our presence loudly and Bella swatted at my arm to stop me hissing.

She craned her neck to read from the brightly coloured flags that hung from the ceiling at the beginning and end of each aisle. "Come on." She commanded and tugged my hand to follow her towards aisle three. "Which ones do you want Edward?" She huffed when we were stood in front of the binoculars.

I sighed when I heard Mike's thoughts. "Shit." I whispered lowly so that only Bella could hear. "He's coming over." I told her.

She didn't say anything, just pointed to the binoculars as if I was the one with the problem. Okay, so I _was_ the one with the problem as far as she knew. But I'd heard Mike's reaction to seeing her for the first time in nearly three years and it was at best overly complimentary for a woman he knew to be happily married, and at worst just plain fucking vulgar.

"Bella!" He shouted from the end of the aisle we were in. "I thought that was you. How are you?"

He totally ignored me as if I wasn't even there and considering the nature of the threat I'd left him with the last time I'd been in close proximity to him, that was probably the first smart thing he'd ever done.

"Hey Mike." Bella said blandly while squeezing my hand, probably hoping I was going to behave.

"Hey Mike." I parroted her in my best sing-song 'I'm not threatened by you you immature, pock marked useless piece of shit' way. I thought I pulled it off pretty well, right up until Bella hissed again that is.

"You won, Edward." She hissed lowly. "Hi, I'm great, how are you?" She asked in that faked voice people use when they don't really give a shit how someone is but it's polite to ask anyway.

She was right, I'd won her and he'd never even gotten his head in the game. I should be secure and self assured and completely confident. Instead I was a mess of raging possessiveness and I had a very distinct urge to punch someone.

Ignoring me again he stopped two feet from my wife and put his hands in his pockets. '_Fuck she's hotter if it's possible.' _He thought. "I'm great too. It's been years, you been off at college I suppose?" He asked out loud.

"Something like that." Bella answered noncommittally. "What about you?"

'_Shit, should I lie and say I'm doing something brilliant? Fucking stupid Cullen and his stupid school, anything is gonna sound lame beside that.' _He thought. "Um, yeah, been really busy. I run this place now, you know, since dad had the heart attack and all."

We didn't know and I didn't really care that his father had been ill, I just wanted binoculars for my daughter and then I wanted to get the hell out of there. I read the back of one box and quickly scanned the specs on another and chose those. "We'll take these." I thrust the box into Mike's hands and ignored Bella's gasp at my rudeness.

"Sure." He was pretty pissed at me for treating him like the hired help, but that's what he was.

He headed to the cashing station and Bella shot me a glare over her shoulder as we moved behind him. She mouthed 'play nice' and I poked my tongue out at her. It was pretty immature but I didn't care. She was mine and I hated Mike Newton with a passion, and he knew it.

I put my credit card onto the counter instead of putting it in his hand and he cursed me in his thoughts. He had the nerve to call me a cocky over achieving douche bag!

That made him a pathetic under achieving knob jockey, but Bella would hit me if I said that out loud, so instead I smiled nicely and put my card back in my wallet when he handed it to me. "So good to see you again Mike, we've gotta run, catch you next visit."

I took the binoculars off the counter without waiting for the receipt and tugged Bella's hand to make her come with me out the door.

She slammed the door hard on the Guardian when she got into the passenger seat and I scowled at her. She knew better than to take her frustrations out on one of our cars.

I threw her a matching scowl. "Are you done with the temper tantrum Mrs Cullen?" I asked teasingly.

She poked her tongue out at me then. "Yeah. I guess so. Though Jealous-ward is pretty hot." She giggled as I slammed the Guardian into drive and took off towards the highway.

"What's a jealous-ward mommy?" Nessa asked.

"It's when daddy decides he doesn't like men who talk to mommy." Bella laughed.

Seth rolled his eyes and laughed too.

"Hey, I refuse to spend the next three days being ganged up on by you three. Seth, you at least have to be on my side." I joked. He looked noncommittal. "Alright, I'll sweeten the deal. You side with me this weekend and I'll convince Bella to sell you her old truck for a pathetic pittance and Rosalie to resurrect it for free."

His eyes shot open so fast I thought they were going to explode out of his skull. "Deal!" He shouted. "You two," he waggled his finger from Bella to Nessa and back again, "are toast." He laughed.

I raised my fist and he leaned forward and bumped it. "Good man." I crowed.

"Jesus." Bella huffed. I snuck a peek at her in my peripheral vision as I slid the Guardian into fifth and hit cruising speed on the highway. She had her arms crossed over her chest as if she was in a huff but she was smiling widely.

The truck wasn't mine to sell, of course, and as far as she knew it was sitting at the back of Sam's garage in pieces. However, Rose had already begun to restore it and although it was a few months off being anywhere near drivable it was coming along nicely. It cost me a fucking fortune, a new car would've been far cheaper, but it made my sister happy to scrounge around for authentic parts and it would make Bella happy to see it the way she always hoped it would look. Not to mention how happy it had made Seth to think of having his own wheels.

Of course I could just stick my hand in my pocket and buy him a car but he'd never accept it anyway. This way, if he had to work to pay the truck back to Bella he'd appreciate it _and _he wouldn't think it was a hand out.

"I wouldn't look so pleased with yourself if I was you." Bella teased me.

"Oh really, and why is that? I've got an even team for a change. Two guys against two girls." I laughed and reached for her hand across the console.

She giggled. "Yep, sure, that's a good deal for you for a change. But Edward, if I sell Seth my truck one day he'll be taking _your daughter_ out in it. All that flat expanse of truck bed...mmm...comfy." She giggled.

I pulled my hand out of hers so fast she nearly got whip lash on her wrist. "Oh fuck." I grumbled.

"Um ahh, daddy, you said a naughty word. That's one point for us girls, hey mommy." She trilled.

**Eleazar POV**

"I swear to you that I was joking Dominique, I never meant to truly frighten you." I told him as he sat, still groggy from his collapse, on the sofa in what used to be Stefan's office.

Dominique was nodding but he still couldn't meet my eyes. Whether he felt embarrassed for having fallen or didn't believe my sincerity I had no idea. For now, either scenario made me feel bad.

"Do you need anything else?" Raul asked, hovering nearby with a glass of water.

Dominique shook his head no. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers then gingerly opened them. "No, thank you." He mumbled.

I reached a hand out in offering and after a very slight flinch he took it. I helped him to his feet and he stood steadily, no waver no sway. "Please, accept my apology. Had I known how recently Daria took you into her confidence I would never have attempted such a joke with you." I told him.

He nodded again and sat in the chair opposite the desk. He didn't know what to say. I supposed there was nothing to say really.

Raul strode to his chair and sat in it, offering me the one beside Dominique. I took it and tried to put the unfortunate incident behind me. "Tell me what your plans are Dominique." I asked.

He shook his head softly. "We are undecided."

I turned to Raul. "And for you, nephew?"

"I asked you to come for many reasons, but it's true I did ask you to come because of Daria and Dominique too. They face a great decision and I don't know how to counsel them." He told me.

"I see. Leave us then." I suggested and he rose from behind the desk and left us to our own devices. "Am I right in thinking that you are willing to be changed for her?"

He let his eyes meet mine then, for the first time, and while I could see fear in them I could also see love and devotion and loyalty. He wasn't afraid. "I want to be with her, however she will have me, but I refuse to let her watch me die as a mortal if there is another way." He hung his head again then. "But I will not agree to it until it is she who asks it of me, she will not ask."

I smiled then. "Ahh, I see. It is the age old problem for our kind, son." I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. He didn't flinch and I wasn't surprised. "I've seen this happen time and time again over the ages. One of our kind falls in love with a human and they wrestle with the pros and cons of shaking off the mortal coil." I sighed.

"She questions whether I love her enough to do it or whether its immortality I love." He said sadly. "But it's her. It's always been her, even before she had anything to do with me I've loved her."

I looked at him then, really looked at him, and saw the spark of talent in him. "It was you." I said in shock. He turned his eyes to me but didn't register what I meant. "It was you. Eight years ago I was here, visiting, and the blocks at the top of the southern tower loosened from their mortar and fell. You were right there, beside her, you shoved her aside before the first block fell. None of us heard the stones loosen, but you knew, didn't you? I've always wondered how you knew."

His eyes flashed with worry. "You're wrong. I was just lucky." He shook his head.

I smiled. "And when Stefan asked you to head this generation of the guard it was you who informed him of the uprising, wasn't it? You knew those farmers were becoming restless, were planning to rise up and rush the castle. You knew before they even formed the plan themselves, didn't you? I remember now. I remember you telling us what they were planning, that they'd been stockpiling crude weapons." I stood then and began to pace along the side of the room.

He had his head in his hands by this point, shaking his head back and forth. Mumbling that I was wrong. That he'd gotten lucky a couple of times. But it wasn't luck at all. This was latent ability. Dormant ability. This was to be his gift.

"Stefan knew, didn't he? He knew you loved her?" I asked cautiously. The swift way Dominique whipped his head around to where I was standing told me far more than the shake of his head. I smiled then, "Of course he did. He knew you loved her, even then. That's why he never changed you himself. He wanted a normal life for her for as long as possible so he kept you human, let you lead his guard but kept you human. Son of a bitch. I never knew."

I paced some more, trying to work out what it was my brother had been thinking.

"I didn't know what they were but I knew they weren't, well, normal." Dominique whispered quietly. "It wasn't hard to work that part out, they never aged. My father and his father had been part of the security force inside the castle my whole life, Stefan and Vladimir never changed. The other staff, they change all the time, they come and go. The women get married, have children and leave, the men are moved onto jobs outside the walls so it's not so obvious to them. But I saw it. I think my father did too. But he never spoke to anyone about it, and neither would I, I've sworn myself to this family." He told me firmly and I believed him. He'd had plenty of opportunity to flee or to cause trouble, he never had. He swiped at the back of his neck and continued. "Stefan, when he was readying the guard to go to America, he asked me to watch over Daria on her return if something should ever happen to them. I didn't believe anything ever could, but then only the three returned and I was left wondering what had happened. Daria won't say and I can't ask Raul. But I've kept my promise to watch over her."

I patted his shoulder then moved back to pacing. "Go on." I encouraged him. I'd tell him a little of what happened in Forks, but later.

"Well, Raul and Daria and Ana came back and they were different, sad, angry. Not so much the ladies, but Raul was very angry. When it became obvious that Stefan would not be returning I helped Raul learn about the castle and how to run it. He leant on me more and more and it was getting harder to watch for Daria because she began to roam around a lot more. Leaving her chamber at odd hours of the night, going into the fields, stealing food from the kitchens. Then she decided she'd walk to the town. Raul asked me to follow and watch, make sure she didn't see me. But I wanted her to see me, I wanted her to know me, so I disobeyed his orders and I made myself known to her. I convinced her to stop stealing food, to eat with me in the kitchen openly, and in the town at night, we've been going every day and every day I fall more in love with her. I think she loves me too." He sighed. "Two nights ago she told me what she was. I knew she wasn't like me, but I don't know what to do now. She won't ask, I won't beg. Raul has left it up to us, we cannot decide and I don't want to fight with her."

He slumped over then, putting his head onto his folded arms on the edge of the desk. He was spent. He'd laid all his cards on the table, so to speak. Now it was my turn.

I took Raul's seat. "Dominique." I said softly and he raised his head a little. "I can't make this choice for you either, but if you decide it's what you want I'll make the change happen for you." I promised him. He nodded once, quite firmly. "Good. Now, I'd like to be able to tell you that my brothers fought valiantly and died for some noble and deserving cause, but they did not. They died like stubborn cowards and I helped." I waited for his shock and then ploughed on. There was no need for secrets, if he was changed he'd learn all this as his years went on, there was no point sugar coating it now. "Let's get Dabi in here, I think it's time she learnt about why her family were murdered too."

His eyes shot open as though I'd shot him. I called quite softly for Daria and in a few minutes she joined us. She took Dominique's hand into hers and they sat patiently waiting for me to tell them the story.

"The family you saw in Washington Daria, the Cullen family, they are good people. Strong and loyal and loving and your father was wrong to go there to murder their children." I let that sink in and then I told them the rest. Warts and all. My part in it, the betrayal on both sides, the lies Stefan had believed about the others of our kind and their attachment to, and the bond they shared with the wolves there. I tried to teach them about the love and strength the Cullen's, and the others, had. But mostly I tried to focus on the compassion and the loyalty the new council had.

I didn't want to sound like I was selling it, but I did want them to know that I believed in it and that there were choices out there for them. That living a certain way, just one way, wasn't absolutely necessary. I gave them a lot to think about and when they left to go to bed, and Raul replaced them in the chair opposite the desk, I began my story again.

**BPOV**

Our cabin in the forest was both peaceful and enjoyable.

Seth hadn't been before so the forest and the lake were all new for him. We spent much of Friday in the lake playing and swimming together. Esme had packed us a picnic lunch and Nessa had a great time laying it all out on the checked tablecloth. She and Seth ate everything Esme had packed despite there being no maple syrup or honey on any of it.

We had swimming races and handstand competitions. Nessa went diving for coins on the sparklingly clear bottom of the Crescent Lake. Seth piggy backed her from one side of the lake to the other over and over so I wasn't surprised when they both passed out very early on in the evening.

That left Edward and I with time on our hands. With only one big bed in the cabin and no need for us to sleep in it, Edward and I spent the night time hours alone in the woods just a little ways away. The dense forest wouldn't have swallowed our sounds so our lovemaking was silent. We were lost completely in our silent connection and afterwards we lay in each other's arms on the forest floor until Edward decided it was time to confide in me what he'd been worrying about that morning.

Edward was stroking my belly with his long fingers and I was running mine through his hair when he began. "I know something that might upset you." He whispered.

"I thought as much." I replied.

He sighed again but I let him come to it in his own time. We had hours until Nessa and Seth would wake.

A few minutes later he sat up and braced himself on his elbow. "Do you remember seeing the three non-participants at the back of the clearing?" He asked.

"Sure. They were Stefan's kids and Vladimir's wife, right?" I asked. Emmett told me who they were.

"That's right. They didn't want to participate, they were only there to observe so when things were coming to their natural end I sent them away. I told them to run, that nobody would pursue them." He says with a grimace.

I reach over and cup his cheek with my palm. "That was the right thing to do Edward, they didn't want any part in the fight."

"I know, and I know it was the right thing. But, Raul, that's Stefan's son I guess you could call him, he threatened me in his thoughts when they were leaving. Peter thinks Eleazar's trip home to help his family might lead to them forming another army." He whispered.

I took my time digesting what he said. Eleazar has gone home. Stefan's son threatened Edward as he was leaving the clearing. "Okay. Does anyone else think that's likely?"

He huffed then. "You want a majority vote?" He asked.

"No, I just want to know what some of the others think. They know Eleazar and you aren't exactly his biggest fan, so they might think more rationally about anything he appears to be doing." I suggest carefully.

"I've made my peace with Eleazar. I gave my word that I'd support his trip to help his family. I will stick by that right up to the point where he stabs me again, then I'll fucking kill him with my own hands." He growled menacingly and rolled over onto his back.

I blew out a breath from between my teeth. "Alright. Put Eleazar aside for a second. What do the others think is going on in Romania right now?"

"Jasper thinks its unlikely Raul will pick up where Stefan let off. Peter doesn't know and Emmett is along for the ride no matter which way it goes."

"And what do you think is going to happen?" I ask.

"I think Raul will have no choice but to rebuild his guard. That will take years. Newborns are notoriously volatile, except for you, you were fucking amazing and still are." He leans over and kisses me hard on the lips while I'm still smiling at the compliment. "So even if he rebuilds the guard there is no way he's going to want to bring just a dozen with him to take us on. I'm with Peter on that point. Nobody would be stupid enough to take us on, not after seeing the size of the army we can raise. I honestly think Eleazar has gone to do exactly what he said he would do. Raul called and asked for his help and he'll give it, but not if it means putting us in any danger. He swore he would tell us right away if that looked likely."

I rolled onto Edward's chest then and ran my hands along his temples and into his hair. "Thank you for telling me." I kissed him and he smirked. "I agree with you. Our army was big enough to scare anyone into leaving us alone. I don't know these people but we'll know if they decide to do anything and then we'll fight again. I'm not worried." I tell him firmly.

Edward grins and pulls my mouth to his. "Does full disclosure earn me full exposure Mrs Cullen?"

I pretend to think about it for a second before I match his grin. "You first." I giggle and reach for his belt.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading. This story will be slowing down now due to the staggering response to my human tale. I am not abandoning our vamp family in any way, but while the ideas are flowing so readily I would like to see the human story through to its logical conclusion. Please keep this story bookmarked and on your alert list and I'll get back to it soon. **

**Kind regards, and thanks for your patience,**

**Maxi**

**xxxx**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Welcome back everyone!**

**Bare with me a while, won't you, while I get my head around these vamps again? After writing Edward and Bella as humans it might take me a few thousand words to get back into the swing of things. Luckily I made extensive notes about where I wanted this go, so hopefully it will be a giant join the dots for me and not a chore to have to choreograph this too much from scratch. **

**You will notice the introduction of a new character at the foot end of this chapter. It is a very brief, and probably slightly confusing introduction, so again bare with me. All will be revealed as we progress through the upcoming chapters. **

**Thank you to all of those who followed me over to More To Love Than This, the reception I got, and am still getting, from it has been both inspiring and humbling. **

**Thank you for all of you who are coming back to see this one through. **

**I hope it lives up to expectation. **

* * *

Chapter 17 – Year One – An Easing of Tensions

**EPOV**

The rest of our short stay at the cabin was light and easy and the stress of my admission to Bella slipped away as our strange little family enjoyed ourselves in the forest.

Both Seth and Nessa confided in us, and each other, that their dreams were really nightmares. Seth talked to Nessa at length about what they'd both seen in the clearing that day and then as a family we talked to each other about our roles in the fight.

Bella and I made it very clear to Nessa that what we did that day, murdering Stefan and Jane personally and condoning the murder of so many others indirectly, was necessary but very wrong. She understood that. She knew that we didn't want to have to do those things, but she knew why we had to.

We spent a great deal of time talking to her about right and wrong and the grey areas in between that meant we'd had to defend her and Seth in the clearing. Bella expertly explained how she felt about what she'd had to do and I did my best to explain why I'd chosen to fight at all when Carlisle had wanted to defend.

In the early evening on the second day we all hunted together. Seth and Nessa had decided to forgo their normal human meals in favour of a good run and hunt with us. It was fantastic! Nessa was utterly lethal despite living as a human for the last year. She still wanted a crack at a bobcat but Bella and I still thought she was still too small.

Where Seth would normally have argued her side he backed us and agreed she was too small yet to her have her head. The three of us watched in sick fascination as she isolated then took down a big male deer right in front of us.

She handled it expertly, pulling it to her like her mother did and when it was done she hid it like she'd been shown. She skipped back to us as though nothing out of the ordinary had gone on. It never ceased to amaze me that my girls could take to this life as they had, with no regret, no self loathing like I still had.

I couldn't ever be sorry that I had them with me but I could regret that Bella had had to give up her humanity for it and in turn that Renesmee had to contend with the half of herself that wasn't human.

We talked about that too that weekend.

We talked about Nathaniel and the life he'd carved out for himself and the one he lived now with Angelica and what it meant for them long term. We listened as Nessa asked a hundred questions about the possibilities for her own future and then to Seth as he tried to come to grips with the shape his future was likely to take as a member of our family. We talked about his schooling and what direction he thought it might take. He was still sure his future laid in medicine and we talked to him a little about how to make that come about for him. We talked to Nessa about her schooling and about our idea to enrol her at my school as a Masen. We explained about how we didn't want her singled out as being our daughter and about how she should behave should the question of her parentage ever arise with a staff member. She seemed eager to begin and even though I was nervous about it Bella seemed just as eager as Nessa.

Seth, on the other hand, was worried.

He was worried that she'd be bullied, or hurt, segregated or left out because of her extraordinary ability to learn. Nessa listened carefully to his opinion then put her little hand to his cheek and begged him not to worry.

It was really rather sweet but it made my heart ache. I wanted her little for longer. I knew Bella did too and didn't have to be able to read her mind to know that she was thinking exactly what I was thinking. Her eyes said it all. Nessa was growing too fast.

For her part Nessa ignored us and concentrated hard on Seth. She told him, very firmly, that her uncles, her aunt and both her parents would take good care of her at 'daddy's special school' and that he shouldn't worry. She told him that she wanted to get smarter and that she wanted to be near other human girls so she could learn to be more like them so that when the two of them lived together, when she was bigger, she could be the best human she could be for him.

Had Bella still had the ability to cry she would've. I wouldn't have been too far behind her.

I agreed with all the little girl said, including the way she was going to be protected by every Cullen at the school, but found it hard to listen to her making such adult plans.

I had a plan, Bella had a plan and we had a plan together but it came as a shock that our daughter had a plan too. Knowing that plan already included her future with Seth rocked me to the core.

It had only been days ago that she'd 'declared' herself to him and I'd still not recovered fully from that and here she was telling him that 'when' she was bigger she wanted to be as human as possible for him. She was terrible at shielding when she spoke passionately about something so I was treated to the whole speech in stereo. It came out of her lips for my ears to comprehend and out of her brain half a second before each word was made audible.

It hurt.

Our _seven_ year old daughter was making plans for her future and neither Bella nor I had a say in it. Right now we did. But Nessa was sure, completely sure, of how her life was going to pan out.

She'd be going to my school, as a Masen for now, and then she'd graduate, go to college and collect as many degrees as she liked and she'd live with Seth, as a human. She was so set, so certain of her course.

**BPOV**

I didn't know what was more shocking. Hearing my daughter set out her plans or watching the anguish on my husband's face while she articulated them.

Seth, for his part, looked as astounded as Edward did. It was true that he and Nessa didn't get a lot of alone time so maybe he truly hadn't known, or understood; just how set she really was either. Perhaps they hadn't discussed anything? She was seven, for heaven's sake, so thinking about them closeted away discussing their future was ridiculous in the extreme, or so I'd thought.

Now, though, it seemed as though it was something they _should _do. It had always been fantastical to me that even as a tiny baby she knew her own mind and could make clear and precise decisions, but watching and listening to her map out her future it seemed even more so. She knew what she wanted, which was strange enough, but she knew how to get it too.

She seemed so sure. She'd go to our school and learn then she'd go on to college and try to find something to learn there that would hold her attention and she'd wait for Seth to finish his schooling and then they'd be together. It was very matter of fact, very certain. I began to wonder, if it had been possible, whether Alice could've been any more sure. If Renesmee's 'otherness' hadn't been an issue for Alice' particular gift would she have been able to see, right from the start, this very same path for our daughter and Seth?

As Nessa moved through her plans I began to hear a recurring theme. Our school. She was excited to be going there, and was very proud of what her father had achieved, but she assumed that she'd be able to attend there forevermore. I knew that she couldn't. I knew that her accelerated growth wouldn't allow it. I knew we had a problem and as yet no solution.

"Nessa, sweetheart, I don't want to upset you but I don't think you can go to daddy's school all the time," I said as carefully as I could.

She turned her eyes to mine and just stared. There were no tears but I could tell that she was worried. "Why not mommy? I can be a good girl and I'll do my lessons and I'll always turn my homework in."

As advanced and as sophisticated as she was she was still a little girl for the most part. It made me smile. "I know you'll be a good girl darling, daddy does too. But you grow so fast sweetie and the humans won't understand that. You know how important it is that our secret is kept. I just don't know how to explain to humans why you grow so fast, so I don't think you're going to be able to go to daddy's school for very long," I told her sadly.

She looked at us all in turn then, her face clouding over a little more as the seconds ticked over. If Edward was reading her I hated to think what he was hearing right then.

Her tears were so very close to spilling over, and I hated to be the one to ruin all her plans, but it was necessary that she knew and understood all the challenges she faced simply because of who and what she was. It wasn't fair and I'd do anything to take that out of the equation for her, but my hands were tied. She wasn't human and neither was she wholly vampire.

She slumped back against Seth's chest and a little sob escaped her throat as the first tear fell across her cheek. Seth held her tight but said nothing. He couldn't make it better for her either and he probably felt as helpless as I did.

I looked to Edward who looked as though he was in pain. His daughter's tears undid him every time. I was sorry for that. I never wanted her to cry or for him to see her do it, but still felt it was right to bring the issue to the fore.

I pulled his hand into my lap and squeezed. He squeezed a little in return and gave me a weak smile. "Unfortunately your mommy is right little one," he began. "The humans at our school won't understand why you grow so fast and I don't have any idea what the solution to that is, so mommy is right. You won't be able to come to our school for very long. I'm so sorry baby girl," he whispered.

Nessa nodded but continued to cry quietly. Rosie and Emmett were going to face this same scenario with Angel very soon and I knew that they were going to feel just like I did right now. Utterly useless.

I was about to apologise to Nessa too when Seth took her by the shoulders, picking her up as though she weighed no more than a loaf of bread, and set her on her feet in front of him. "I think I know a way," he said softly. He looked over her shoulder at me first, then Edward. "I think I know a way to get the best of both worlds for us all."

Edward stared at him for a full minute before speaking and I knew, without needing to ask, that Seth had just shared his idea mentally. "Please tell Bella your idea, son," Edward said with a smirk.

Seth shrugged a little. "Well, I don't know if you'll think it's that good, but sure," he said to me. "You all have about a million documents all with different names on them, right?" he asked and I nodded. "So, I was thinking, what about year about?"

I didn't get it. Year about what? And what do our aliases have to do with it? I turned to Edward who was now smiling widely. "I don't get it," I said tetchily.

With a little laugh Edward began to explain what had essentially been Seth's original idea.

"Year about. It's so simple its brilliant Seth," he told the now beaming boy before pulling Nessa into his lap and explaining it for us girls. "You, my beauty, are known by many names. Renesmee Carlie Masen Cullen is your proper name but there are many variations that are all easily provable and backed up by any and all documents you might ever need to prove so. Year about Bella. Think about it," he told me pointedly but I still didn't get it.

I watched him tap his temple, and Nessa grin before he stared into her eyes. He was sharing with her and she was reading from him. I'd seen it done a thousand times these past years and it still amazed me just as much as it always had. After a minute or so Nessa began to giggle. I could tell the exact moment she withdrew from her father's mind because she made a little fist at her side as she 'pushed' him out of her mind. She had no idea she had a 'tell'.

She slipped off Edward's lap and came towards me, hand outstretched. I took her hand and she shook it like she would anyone else's. I looked to Edward but he was just smirking, it was his usual cocky grin when he knew something I didn't.

"Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you, my name is Carlie Masen and I'm seven," Nessa told me in her sweet little sing song voice. I was about to reply and say how nice it was to meet her when she continued, still shaking my hand. "Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you, my name is Nessa Whitlock and I'm nine," she giggled at the end of that one and I pushed my brows together, still trying to work out what the point was. She threw Edward a quick look then continued with the handshake and the introductions. "Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you, my name is Renesmee Hale and I'm thirteen years old."

Holy shit!

**EPOV**

The exact moment Bella 'got it' Nessa began to giggle.

"I can go to your school year about," Nessa said proudly as she dropped her mother's hand. "You won't have to explain anything to anyone, or even tell anyone that you're my mommy because we'll have different names. I can go one year to the human school as Nessa Cullen, then come to your school as whoever I want!" she crowed. "That's right isn't it Sethy?" she asked.

"You got it punkin. You get it now Bell's?" Seth asked.

"I think so," Bella said quietly, still rolling it around in her head. "Do you mean one year at a normal school then one year with us, under different versions of her name all the time?" she asked me.

"Exactly," I told her with a smile.

"Huh," she mumbled before turning to Seth and Nessa again. "Sorry Nessa, I think we just lost to the boys. They're far too smart for us."

Nessa, true to form, didn't miss a beat. She ran to her mother and launched herself up into her arms. With a small pat to Bella's face she sighed minutely and then giggled. "Don't worry mommy. We might have lost on points this weekend but all girls know that boys are stupid, really. Besides, I beat Sethy twice swimming this morning and you beat daddy all the time. I'd much rather beat them at those things than silly ideas about how to trick dumb humans."

I groaned, couldn't help it, and Seth shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Bella and Nessa fell about laughing.

Without needing prompting Seth raised his fist to me and I bumped it with good humour. "A win's a win," he shrugged.

At the end of our time in the forest I think we all felt lighter, as though a great weight had finally been lifted from us and we were free, almost, from the anguish the war had created and left in its wake. It would take a little more time for all of us to feel one hundred percent better, but we were farther along with the healing than we had been a few short weeks ago at least. Nessa had voiced all her fears and Seth had confided in her his. Bella and I had listened to all of it and offered advice where we could. All in all it was a good feeling to know that we were all on the same page.

Driving home was a solemn affair. Neither Seth nor Nessa particularly wanted to go home to our normal life and even though I couldn't read Bella I assumed she didn't want to either.

For a change I did.

I wanted to put this chapter to rest. I wanted the war and all its many twists and turns to become history for us all and I wanted to get on with living the life we'd fought for.

I wanted to continue to fight to change the name of my school and then I wanted to open it and begin teaching.

Each of us had plans though they were all very different.

Nessa was eager to begin at our school and Bella was excited to be starting her teaching career there too. Seth, though not looking forward to going back to Forks High, was resigned to having to finish out his junior year there.

I'd not talked to Bella about his transferring to us for the new school year and wanted to discuss it with Sam and Harry and Sue before I broached it with my wife.

Our homecoming was loud and cheerful and it seemed as though the three Cullen households were onboard with restarting their lives too.

**BPOV**

I put the information Edward had shared about what was left of the Romanian family away in my mind and tried to forget it.

I'd never truly trust that someone wasn't once again plotting against us but as long as Edward continued his path of full disclosure I could at least put it aside for now.

I had a lot to do in the weeks coming. Lesson plans now finished I had to actually begin trying to create a way in which to teach them. Nessa and Seth became an integral part of that. I used them as guinea pigs and practiced my lessons on them. I made them sit through each of the plans I had for the first week of classes and then through the second.

They were full of praise for my methods but when I'd come to the end of my plans I was still as nervous as I had been all along.

People, human people, were trusting me to teach their children something of worth. There would be nobody to help me do it either. I was head of the photography department and under me I had two other teachers but they too would be looking to me for guidance. I'd argued that that wasn't a great idea, that I didn't have any experience being a boss let alone a department head, but I'd been shouted down by first Edward and then Alice and then Flick.

They believed in me and despite my many, and varied, protestations I was on my own.

Nessa returned to her school happily, Seth less so. He told me how he felt anxious and lost when he couldn't be near her but instead of it making me resentful or hurt by their relationship it only made me sad for Edward.

He'd gone through this too.

He'd had to do his best to live his life while he waited for me to grow too. Watching and seeing how Seth felt when away from Nessa drove home just how hard that must have been for my Edward.

Thankfully the big house was back to being an enormous sense of fun and joy for us all. Gone was Carlisle's oppressive depression and in its stead was a new man. He had never ceased his tireless efforts with his work at the hospital but his private life had suffered while he'd come to grips with what he'd had to do for us. But now, now that the rest of us were once again happy and enjoying life, he seemed to as well.

My parents too had settled back into their normal routines. My mother and Sue were working hard at the daycare centre and it was flourishing right alongside them. My dad seemed to take everything in his stride. He went to a job he adored and came home to my mother, whom he adored too, every night a happy and content man. He took his beloved boat out as often as he could and he took Nessa and Seth with him whenever they wanted to.

The two little girls in the family were a constant source of energy and fun for us all as well. They swam and played and gabbled constantly. Nessa was infinitely patient with Angel, who in turn was more and more in awe of her bigger cousin. Apart from the times that Nessa was at school it was as though they were each other's shadows.

If Nessa left a room Angel followed. If Nessa ate Angel could be found right beside her, on a high stool in whatever kitchen they were in at the time, eating as close to the meal that Nessa was consuming as was possible. Angel deferred to Nessa in all things. Fashion, toys, games and most especially Seth. Everything about Seth fascinated both girls and I'd found them closeted away together discussing the mystery of Nessa's 'brown boy' often.

Rose was consumed with the garage and Angel. Emmett was consumed with his lesson plans and setting up his new workshops at the school. Jasper was hurrying to finish his and Peter's most recent history book so that he would be free to teach when the school opened.

Alice shopped. Almost constantly. She wrote off the effort, and the money, as research for her classes but we all knew she just loved to shop. Full stop.

Esme spent her time between the two little girls and the council. She devoted a few hours each morning to whatever Edward, and the other councillors, required of her and her afternoons were spent with Angel or Nessa depending on what activities they were involved in. She seemed content and happy.

Edward, who also seemed content and happy, was by far the busiest of us all.

He worked long hours at the school making ready for the first students and at night he worked more hours on his council. He didn't open up and offer very much to me about it but neither did he keep anything from me. I asked the odd question and he answered as best he could, but I, like everyone else I supposed, had no real idea what they were trying to achieve or how they were going about it.

All I knew was that my husband was working hard for me, his family, his school and all the vampires we knew.

**Romania**

Daria and Dominique spent the next twenty four hours locked in her chambers trying to decide what it was they wanted Eleazar to do for them.

Daria was torn. She wanted Dom changed, for herself, and she knew and understood just how selfish that was but she wanted it none the less. Dom was just as torn. He wouldn't ask Eleazar to change him unless Daria asked it of him first, and at first she had refused.

They argued. They kissed. They cried. They argued some more. They slept fitfully beside one another, hands clasped tightly together between them. They rose, they ate, and they showered. They argued.

Dom begged Daria to ask. Daria sobbed and finally relented. Dom thanked her, profusely, for voicing what it was she wanted of him. Daria cried for his sacrifice but Dom cradled her against his chest and promised her that his life was his to give and he was willing to give it in order to keep Daria forever. Daria put voice to her concerns and Dom listened patiently, answering only when she was spent. He assured her that he would work hard to control his thirst. He promised her that he'd never take a human life and that Eleazar had agreed to teach him to hunt animals, only animals.

They were joined by both Raul and Eleazar in the weak morning light and with a slightly trembling voice Dom asked his betrothed to tell her uncle of their decision.

Daria's eyes were wide and red rimmed as she faced her brother and uncle. She reached for Eleazar's hand and it was offered without hesitation. She reverently kissed the signet ring that had adorned his right ring finger for centuries before announcing in as clear a voice as she could muster what she needed from him. "Please, Uncle, give my Dom this unnatural gift?" She posed it as a question as everyone in the room knew and believed it to be something that Eleazar could give only if he deemed Dom worthy. It was his horrible gift to give.

Eleazar took no time over the decision and asked his niece to rise. He kept her hand in his and reached for Dom's. "It would be my honour to give this gift to you both," he said quietly.

Dom folded Daria into his arms and she melted against his chest. He murmured his love for her into her hair, looked on by the man who had trusted him with her and the man who would allow him eternity with her.

He was scared witless but kept his composure as best he could.

"When will you do it?" Raul asked Eleazar.

Dom didn't wait for the older man's reply and gave it himself. "As soon as possible, please."

Raul walked his only sister toward Dom who stood, shaking steadily, in front of the priest. The ceremony was brief and heartfelt. Eleazar sat in a pew and watched as his niece took a husband, his sister in law wept almost silently in the pew behind.

Eleazar vowed that the instant his niece and nephew were settled he'd do his best for Ana. What that would be he had no idea. He desperately wanted to confide in Carlisle but wasn't sure his help would be freely given. The relationship between the 'cousins' was strained, at best. At its worst he knew he was still not wholly trusted.

As Daria stood on tiptoe to kiss her husband as his wife for the first time Eleazar sighed. He'd given his word to so many and now it was time to pay up.

Dom's change was explained and watched by both Daria and Raul, but both for very different reasons.

Daria had promised that she would not leave his side, Raul was being coached.

Eleazar explained, to all three students, what he would do and why. He answered each of their questions as honestly as he could; including just how painful the next few days were going to be for Dom. For his part he took it well.

He hardly flinched as Eleazar made his first bite, though Eleazar shook and shuddered as he tried to gain control of his bloodlust.

It had been more than a hundred years since he'd last tasted human blood and Dom's flowed across his lips and down his throat as though it was the elixir of life. An inhuman roar escaped Eleazar's lips whenever he pulled away from Dom's prone body. He shivered and shook as he bit down again and again. It frightened Daria and shocked Raul as he watched his uncle's ministrations.

At last Eleazar stood from Dom's prone body and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "What will be now, will be," he announced. He looked over Dom and sniffed at the air around him noticing the acidic aroma of his own venom and the changing scent of the human. "I have to hunt. Stay with him dear child. Raul, run with me son?" he asked.

Raul merely nodded and backed out of the room leaving Daria to tend to her already writhing husband. Dom's screams rent the air of the hallways and his agonising cries could be heard on the lower floors too, making Eleazar wince and Raul's mind begin to wonder if he was capable of doing what his uncle had just done.

Uncle and nephew walked through the castle at a human pace and as they cleared the farthest gate at the rear of the grounds they broke into an impossibly fast run. Raul ran right beside his uncle for what seemed like miles, not knowing where they were headed or what they'd do when they got there. He had seen the strain on his uncle's face at the first bite and understood what bloodlust felt like. Hell, he'd tried and failed to do what Eleazar had just done more than once, he understood what it felt like to lose control.

Eventually Eleazar slowed and stood, hand holding his weight, up against a tall tree. "I need to hunt," he groaned as though he were in pain.

Raul thought perhaps he was. The pain of thirst was really the only pain he himself had felt in decades. "I'll wait," he told his uncle though he had no intention of waiting in this very spot. He intended to follow, to watch, to learn. He knew of Dom's decision to be as Eleazar was, as human as possible, hunting only what the land could provide and he was eager to see how it was done and to ask if it could be possible for himself after so long indulging in the sins of human blood. He knew, instinctively, that now wasn't the right time for that question.

Eleazar wasted no further time and fled east, through the trees at a tremendous clip. Raul hung back but never let the older man too far from his senses. He used his extraordinary hearing to monitor Eleazar's movements and as he moved between two trees he slowed and watched in fascination as his uncle brought to ground a golden Chamois deer.

The deer had tried to flee in terror, its eyes bulging as it darted and danced through the trees, but Eleazar was far too fast and far too lethal to allow its escape. He leapt, coming over and above the animal as it tried to sidestep between a pair of trees. The thud as they crashed to the ground shook the surrounding area and made Raul flinch.

Tilting his head to one side he watched on as Eleazar roared into the forest before snapping the beasts neck and sinking his teeth into its pulsing jugular vein. With his eyes closed he looked as though he was in ecstasy and Raul wondered if the blood he was having was as delicious as that that he himself had taken from many a human. Could it sustain him as it did Eleazar?

Raul had listened on many occasions as his father and uncle ridiculed Eleazar, and to a lesser extent, the Cullen's for their chosen way of life. But he'd never thought to challenge the opinion before. Was he a monster? Was Eleazar a monster still, even though he no longer took human life? Could the reparations he paid by feasting only on animals repay the debt he owed to date?

Eleazar seemed to enjoy his 'meal' and as he stood over the carcass he turned to find his nephew watching him, head still tilted to one side, deep in thought.

"Come, Raul," Eleazar commanded, holding his hand out to his nephew to come closer. Raul had learnt his lessons well as a newborn and knew better than to approach another vampire either during or immediately after a kill so he stood his ground. "Raul, come," Eleazar commanded again, this time more forcefully.

Tentatively, and with some hesitation, Raul took a few steps towards his uncle. Eleazar stood to the side of the carcass and again held his hand out for the boy. Raul approached cautiously but came to rest a few feet from the older man. "Uncle?" he asked carefully.

"Have you watched me because you wish to learn?" Eleazar asked, rather astutely Raul thought. Without hesitation Raul answered that he had. "Then come, taste." Eleazar pointed to the beast and Raul stared at it with wide eyes. "It is not spent, son. Drink."

Raul knelt beside the deer and put his fingertips to its neck. It was still alive, if barely. The scent of the congealing blood was not very appealing but not altogether unappetising either. He bent a little and sniffed. He had not fed for several weeks but his thirst had not ignited at the smell of the deer blood either. He leaned a little further over and with one last glance at his uncle he too pierced the animals flesh with his teeth. Sucking deeply he took what was left of the beast inside himself.

It wasn't awful, nor was it delicious.

"It will keep you alive Raul. That is all it will do. It will keep you alive, if that is what we are. It's a choice, son. It's a choice Dom has made for himself but if you so wish you too can choose it. Life is sacred, Raul, all life. Killing inmates, vagrants, life's scum as it were is still taking a life," Eleazar said reverently.

Standing, wiping his bloodied hands on his pants, Raul turned to his uncle. "Teach me," is all he said.

With a simple nod of the head Eleazar agreed.

**EPOV**

There just weren't enough hours in a day!

I never thought I'd ever think that. Before Isabella I used to loathe the long, boring hours of my existence. Then, after I found her I hated the long, solitary hours I spent waiting for her to grow. Now, now that I had her with me for all eternity, I didn't have the hours to devote to her anymore!

It was shockingly unfair. She was mine and yet I spent more hours away from her now than I ever had before. The school, the council, the extended family, the wolves and our daughter all conspired to keep me from her for hours on end.

I tried hard to find the time for her, for us, but it wasn't always possible, or easy.

I spent almost all of my days at the school now. I did my best to be at home as Nessa arose, but that wasn't always possible either. On some days something, or someone, would drag me to the school early and I'd miss seeing her before she too went off to her own school. She only had one more day, then two weeks of holidays, and I hoped I'd at least get to spend some decent time with her then. But with my schedule the way it was I'd be lucky to see her for half an hour in the evenings before she went to bed.

Finding time to be with Bella was easier – she didn't need to sleep of course – but there always seemed to be something, or again someone, that needed my attention. We still, religiously, had a date night each week but it was never enough. We never went far. Sometimes to Port Angeles to Grahams, sometimes out with Ben and Angela, sometimes to a movie at the drive in theatre but my favourite date nights were spent in our own home. Nessa would be taken to the big house by whoever had agreed to sit for us and Bella would go too. I'd wait as patiently as I could for them to arrive there then I would knock on the front door and call for my date.

Carlisle and Esme never faltered in their 'parental' duties and always asked me to have her back before curfew. Bella always laughed. I always promised I would.

I never did.

Those were the most precious moments for me in the hectic weeks leading up to the schools opening.

Amid endless reports, fending off the media, trying in vain to rename the school and dealing with admission problems and the legalities of it all my most treasured times were spent in Bella's arms, in our home.

She never complained, never once pouted or seemed disappointed at our lack of time and I wondered if she was disappointed. I'd promised her eternity and even though I'd delivered that – in its most basic form she now had eternity – I had to wonder if she regretted what she'd gotten.

I'd promised her me and apart from a few stolen dates and the serenity of the dark of night she didn't get very much from me, or of me. She ran our household and our lives like clockwork. She ran Nessa from here to there, constantly, without ever complaining that I wasn't doing my share. She mothered both Seth and Nessa, and to a lesser extent Angel too, and never complained. She washed, cooked, cleaned ironed and still had a smile for me when I finally got home at night. She listened and waited patiently for me. She had far more to do with our extended family than I did and she did it all as she always had, with her beautiful smile on her face.

She spent time with them all equally and probably did my share as well. She kept in close contact with Harry and Sue and monitored Seth's grades. She socialised with the women at the Rez and with Charlie and Renee as often as was practical. She maintained her human friendships with Ben and Angela and the wives and girlfriends of the wolves with style and grace. She hunted with Nessa when necessary and never once said she was disappointed that I'd hunted alone.

But I missed her. I missed those first few months of the easy, carefree life we'd had when we'd first married. Even though we had the looming birth of Renesmee approaching those first few months seemed like bliss now that I looked back on them. We stayed in bed late. We hunted at leisure. We had hours and hours to ourselves to do with as we pleased and we had endless hours to talk and learn and fall more and more in love with one another.

That part hadn't changed of course. I loved her more and more as time went on and just when I thought I couldn't love her anymore she'd do or say something so sweet, so thoughtful, that I fell even further.

Every now and then I became jealous and resentful of Seth and his ability to be with my girls when I couldn't. I think Bella recognised this in me and she quite often stepped in to soothe me. She did it so subtly I had to think very hard as to whether or not I'd imagined it, but as time wore on I began to recognise the signs.

Nessa would retell, or show me, something the three of them had done in my absence and I'd growl or hiss in frustration and within seconds Bella would be there, right beside me, with a kind word or a touch and I'd settle. I apologised over and over in those weeks but she always waved it away. She told me she understood. She told me she was proud of me, proud of what I was trying to achieve, proud of the council and the work I was doing on behalf of everyone else.

I let her soothe me then. I let her scent calm me. I lost myself in her body and her mind as I made love to her.

Of course the next day, or a few days later, the whole process would be repeated and again she'd step in and calm me as nobody else could.

I loved her for it, of course, but made a promise to myself to do something for her, with her, before the whirlwind of the schools official opening.

We wouldn't be able to go too far, of course. Bella would never leave Nessa for long and I couldn't spare too much time these days, so our impromptu little holiday was spent in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in Canada. I could only spare a couple of days. As it was I'd only have twenty four hours before the whirlwind of press and media would descend for the official school opening upon our return. I was cutting it fine but was determined to do this for her. For us.

I'd told Bella to pack nothing and she'd assumed that, like so many times before, Alice would prepare all that we'd need for our time away. This time I let her think that and when the day came that we were to leave I led her to the jetty at the edge of the river.

We'd said our goodbyes to Nessa, who was going to stay in the big house with her grandparents for two days, and the cottage was all locked up. We were free as birds for two days and one night and I had every intention of filling every second of that time having the time of my life with her right beside me.

"What's going on Edward?" she pouted adorably as I held her hand on the jetty. "Are we going somewhere in the boat?" she asked.

I chuckled and shook my head. "No," I told her firmly. "We're swimming."

"What?" she laughed. "You've got two days off and you want to spend them swimming, here, in the river?"

I winked at her and laughed too. "Not quite, love. Shall we?" I nodded towards the river.

She sighed, shrugged and said sure. I tugged her hand and pulled her with me into the water. When she'd surfaced I pulled her hard up against my chest and kissed her fiercely. "Swim with me Bella," I begged her.

"Lead on," she giggled.

I dived beneath the water and began to stroke away from her, hoping she'd follow. She did. I waited until she'd caught up to me then really began to stroke away. She kept up with me of course, quite easily. In fact, if she'd known where we were heading she probably could've beaten me there by several hours such was her swimming prowess. But seeing as she had no idea in which direction I wanted her to head she had to stick with me.

I lead us out into the open water a short half hour later and as we passed our little beach I stopped and pulled her to me once again. She let me kiss her but I could tell she was getting frustrated at not knowing what I was trying to pull off.

"What are we doing out here Edward?" she asked.

I kissed her again and chuckled. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," she said firmly.

"Then let's swim a little more."

She sighed but didn't argue and began stroking beside me as I led us out into the straight and towards Canada.

**BPOV**

He was crazy! If we swam much further we'd be in Canada!

We'd swum for about two hours already and he had shown no signs of slowing down at all! Of course I'd never tire and I could out swim him any day of the week, but not knowing in which direction he needed us to go I had no choice but to follow him.

It was a lot of fun but I'd deny that if asked.

I had no idea what he had planned but any holiday that began with a swim through international waters was just plain weird!

Eventually he began to slow again and I hoped that this was our final destination and not some other quick stop. It wasn't. He nodded towards the shore and I followed, eventually finding my footing on the sandy bottom and following him out of the water and up onto the land.

"Where are we?" I asked as I began to wring the water from the length of my hair.

He grinned. That boyish, cocky crooked grin that I absolutely adored so much. "Pacific Rim National Park Reserve."

"Is that even in the US?" I asked with a giggle.

"No, it's not. Canada," he said matter of factly. "This isn't the mainland though, this is Effingham Island. Totally inaccessible, well, except for kayakers but we won't be seeing too many of them with that storm rolling in," he chuckled and pointed over my left shoulder at the darkening clouds that were beginning to gather. "There are camp sites here but no fresh water, it's too cold for most and too rugged for anyone else and I think it might be all ours for now."

I shivered. I couldn't help it. All ours. Just him and me. Here. Alone. No children, no work, no friends or family and best of all no humans. Oh er.

The idea of there being no humans for miles was thrilling to me. The only other time, since my change, where I'd been without human scent nearby, had been the two times we'd run away to Isle Esme. No human scent would be blissful.

He crept up behind me and held me about my waist, resting his head on my shoulder and kissing me at the base of my neck. "Tell me what you're thinking."

I giggled. It was something he said so often and I never tired of hearing him ask it of me. It was me, I was the only one he couldn't read.

"I'm thinking about no humans nearby and wondering what the hunting is like here," I told him.

Another resounding kiss to my throat had me weak at the knees. "Black bear, black tailed deer and cougars. Lots of yummy cougars," he growled into my neck.

"It's been a while since we hunted together," I said idly.

"It has. But here we are. Nobody to bother us. Not a sound in the forest other than a meal or two, just you and me." His warm breath made me shiver as he whispered this into my ear.

"Well then, let's see what we can find," I giggled and grabbed for his hand.

We didn't find a cougar that first time but we did share a black tailed deer and it was deeply satisfying, more so because we shared it rather than for its thirst quenching properties.

As ever the thirst for blood gave way to a thirst for my mate and with nobody for miles around our coupling was rough, loud and desperate. Edward was careful with my clothes and I soon came to remember that we were here with nothing. No clothing. No cell phones. No responsibilities. It was heady.

"There's no little quaint cabin tucked into the forest, is there Edward?" I asked as we got dressed again.

His smirk was positively wicked. "No, love, there is no quaint little cabin here."

"It truly is just us and the forest, isn't it?" I asked, suddenly feeling very warm again.

He stalked towards me, eyes newly topaz after the hunt and gleaming. "Isabella," he drawled as he pulled me to his chest. "It is just you, me and the forest. No distractions, other than your all too tempting body, and nothing and nobody here to worry or think about." He kissed me soundly on the lips and pulled my fingers to his lips to kiss my rings. "You're all mine, for two whole days," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Whatever will we fill our time with?" I giggled as I pulled my hand back and prepared to run.

He knew me so well, too well actually. He patted me soundly on the butt and took off into the trees, calling over his shoulder to me, "Run Isabella."

**Riley POV**

I knew what they were; I'd seen their kind before, many times before. I wasn't scared of them, they'd never catch me and even if they did my scent wouldn't ignite their thirst.

I'd smelled them long before I saw them. They came via the beach, they'd swum here. They looked like a mated pair and my assumption was proven correct when the male kissed the female passionately as they came out of the water.

They spoke freely, not knowing I was there. I'd taken the form of a deer today for no other reason than I liked running with the herd, but now my choice seemed to have been a rather ill timed one.

I heard them clearly as the male explained the hunting varieties on this island so I knew that these vampires were vegetarian ones and they hunted deer. And here I stood as one.

I left the small pack of females I was standing amongst and slipped between the trees and away from the others. I knew my scent was neutral in the form I had taken so had no fear that I'd become what they desired, but still I stepped further away as the mated pair took to the trees in search of their meal.

I watched as they hunted.

The man took the deer down with ease, snapping its neck and calling for his mate to join him beside it. I'd only ever seen this once before, in the forest near Port Angeles last year. A mated pair had taken down several deer, the male bringing it to the ground and then calling for his mate to share, but they weren't this pair. The male had been darker and much bigger, the female blonde and much bigger than this girl too.

They'd been rougher too. The male had roared before feeding, the female had hissed and growled as they'd fed. This pair was much gentler. They fed almost daintily, never spilling a drop and never dirtying themselves with the blood.

The male suddenly looked right at me. His golden eyes bored into me but I knew I had nothing to fear, he couldn't smell me or see what I really was, all he saw was just another deer.

He quickly looked away when the female tugged on his hand.

I'd seen this before too. I knew what they'd do now that they'd finished feeding and I didn't want to hang around and watch _that. _I might be a freak but I'm not a pervert.

I took off through the trees and when I reached the shore at the opposite end of the island I closed my eyes, reached with my mind and conjured the image of my human form before slipping back into it easily. Shifting had never been a problem for me, not like it was for some of the half breed shifters I knew. I could change form as easily and as quickly as I could form the thought to do it.

I took a quick look at the forest behind me to make sure neither of the pair had followed me and then I slipped beneath the waves to head home.

Maybe I'd take a little side trip into the forest near Port Angeles again before I began my term at EC College, see if I couldn't find a couple more of these vampires who subsisted on animals. They fascinated me.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**So, here we are again. Romanians, shape shifters and our beloved Vamps. It's good to be back :)**

**Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought, and how badly I've done writing them after such a long break. I'd love the chance to fix it, if I can. **

**Please review.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 18 – Year One – As the School Bell Tolls

**EPOV**

I heard the errant thought and wondered where the bloody hell it had come from because I couldn't smell a human and I certainly didn't sense one nearby. Bella didn't either, I could tell, she didn't flinch and she didn't deter from her running line at all as we flew through the forest.

I ranged my hearing and my mind out around us but couldn't hear another thing other than the scratching of animals, but there, in the background, were thoughts.

The mental voice had definitely been a human one. There could be no doubting that because it was thinking about _me. _That I was obviously the 'females' mate. They, or I suppose he, was thinking how beautiful Bella was and how lucky I was to be her mate. The thoughts were male.

I pulled from my run and stood as still as I could, listening for more thoughts. Bella stopped a little further ahead and called out to me, to see why I'd stopped, but I put my hand up and put my free hand to my mouth to ask her to be quiet. She was.

Jesus. Whoever it was was enrolled at my school! There was someone out here thinking directly about my school but what shocked me even more so was that whoever it was knew what I was, what _we_ were, and that we were fascinating to them.

Bella tiptoed back to where I now stood and came to my side, grabbed for my hand and stilled. The thoughts were gone. There was no sound, no boat motor, no paddle splashing into the water as the person retreated, nothing, there was just nothing. It was as though he'd simply vanished.

I shook my head as if to clear my own thoughts and Bella squeezed my hand at my side. She knew to be silent so she didn't ask what it was I'd stilled for, but I knew she wanted to know and I knew, on instinct, that she needed to know.

"There was a human here, just now, to the west," I told her quickly. "But they're gone now. Did you smell one?"

"No, nothing but game. Oh my god Edward, how did we not smell, or hear one nearby?" she gasped.

"I don't know," I scratched the back of my neck with my hand and tried to come up with a logical explanation, but couldn't. "The mental voice came out of nowhere, it wasn't here when we arrived and it certainly wasn't here while we hunted. It just showed up, out of nowhere." I knew I was rambling and I knew she knew why. This just didn't happen. Nobody snuck up on me, well, nobody that wasn't Bella anyway. "Perhaps they're a shield," I mumbled then shook my head. "No, that can't be right. I might not have heard them but I certainly would've smelled them, shield or not, so no."

Bella came to the front of me, stood square on and put her palms to my cheeks. "They're gone now, so no big deal, right?" she asked hesitantly.

I shook my head slowly. "No, not alright. The last thought, before they disappeared again, was that they knew what we were and that we fascinated them, because we were vegetarians. But it gets worse, love. They're enrolled at my school."

**BPOV**

At first I thought it was part of our 'game', that he'd stopped running so abruptly, but when I turned to look at him I could see he was concentrating hard. This was no game. He was in a slight crouch and he was hissing without really meaning to. I could see that about him. This was Edward's defensive stance.

He was trembling slightly when I got to him but he motioned for me to be quiet, so I was. He'd tell me soon enough what was going on with him, so I was patient as I watched the emotions flood his features.

I couldn't make sense of what he was telling me. I'd heard no human and I'd certainly hadn't smelled one, so I had no idea how it was possible that one could be within four miles of us – about the extent of the range I knew that Edward could read someone within – without him picking up on them. At first I thought it was because we'd been otherwise engaged, nakedly so, but he'd heard the thoughts after that, while we'd been running.

"How can that be?" I asked. "How can a human that we don't know know what we are? What does it mean that they're enrolled? Oh god, what does this mean?"

"Maybe nothing," he mumbled. He stepped away a little and put his hands on my shoulders. "The thoughts weren't insidious at all, just curious. Like I said, he was fascinated with us. Not horrified or even afraid, just curious."

"Ok," I said quietly because honestly I didn't know what else to say. I didn't think this human posed a threat and they hadn't approached us or said anything directly to us. And besides, we're vampires and not scared of humans. We can defend ourselves, protect each other. "Should we go home?" We'd come here with nothing, no means to contact home, and it was a two and a half hour swim home again. If this went bad we were sitting ducks.

He shook his head once. "No. No reason to think this was anything other than what it was. A curious human who happens to recognise a vampire when they see one. It happens I guess." As suddenly as his melancholy arrived it was gone. He shook his head once, scrubbed his hand through his hair once more and then took my hand in his. "Let's run some more," he whispered, pulling me along behind him.

All thoughts of strange humans were lost to the peaceful forest as we sped through it, hand in hand.

**Romania**

Raul and Eleazar spent hours in the lush forest. Uncle taught nephew the art of the hunt and Raul was a quick learner. Eleazar thought he seemed keen to adopt a different lifestyle and hoped that he was doing the right thing by teaching him.

He'd thought for days about the ways he could help what was left of his family in ways that couldn't possibly illicit anything untoward coming about, and as yet he'd failed to find fault with anything any of them had asked of him.

Turning Dom had been hard, a real challenge, but he felt he'd done the deed for the right reasons. His niece loved the human, what else could he do? It would end in heartbreak if he didn't. Daria would have to watch her new husband wither and die an old man and Eleazar couldn't abide that.

It had been Dom's choice, a choice Eleazar himself hadn't been given when he himself had been turned. He knew that Carlisle had felt differently turning Isabella than he had after turning the others and he could now see the difference for himself. Eleazar himself had turned Carmen, not altogether against her will, but it was true that she had had very little knowledge of what she was getting for herself at the time of her change. He'd done it purposefully that way. He'd wanted her the instant he'd seen her and had done his best to charm her as best he could. He hadn't actually tricked her but he hadn't exactly been one hundred percent truthful with her either. He made his lifestyle seem as glamorous as possible, he'd told her of the infinite possibilities she'd have if she chose to be with him as he was. He'd waited until she was totally in love with him before he'd changed her, though she'd never really given her permission. It was true that she'd borne the change well and grew to love what she was, but at the start it had been very different. She'd been resentful for a decade and had shunned him for all of that time, preferring to find out for herself what and who she now was.

Eventually she'd come back to him, her love for him was as impossible for her to deny as his was for her, and they'd settled into what had been a long and happy marriage since. But it had never truly been her choice, he'd just gotten lucky.

But Dom had chosen this and he'd insisted that he'd not be changed until Daria asked it of him. It was as brilliant as it was cunning and now that it was done Eleazar was looking forward to seeing Dom's progression into vampire-hood.

But was Raul different? Did Raul want to learn the 'art' of changing someone for the right reasons? Did he truly want to make himself a mate or did he want to raise an army? Was he lonely or looking for revenge?

The only ones who could tell that without asking were all vampires who didn't trust Eleazar. Edward, Alice, Maggie and Charles. Any one of them could tell if Raul was being truthful and not one of them would be willing to do it, Eleazar guessed.

He longed to speak with Carlisle and even more so with Edward.

He decided it was worth the risk and after showing Raul the finer points of hunting he asked his nephew to leave him and return to the castle. He used the excuse that Daria would need him, and to a lesser degree so would Dom, and Raul didn't question his uncle in the slightest.

As soon as Raul was away Eleazar took out his cell phone and dialled America.

Dom raged, raved, writhed and begged for an escape from the seething burning just as every other changing vampire did.

Daria sat beside him, wiping his brow with a wet cloth, and talked to him throughout. She was sorry for his agony, of course, but knew that in the end she'd have him for eternity. She hoped he thought it was worth it.

When Raul returned to the castle he too sat with his new brother in law as the usually gentle man cursed and flailed against the raging flames consuming his body and mind.

At various points Dom begged Daria to never leave him as he burnt, at others he demanded she leave while he did.

Through it all Ana sat in her suite in the very top of the castle and listened to the screaming of the changing soul. She had no desire to hunt, no desire to watch the transformation and no desire to be amongst her own kind. Eleazar's arrival hadn't shocked her nor intrigued her. She knew he'd come eventually. She knew Raul would one day wish to make another and she knew that it would be to Eleazar that he'd turn. She had no desire to be any nearer to him than she was right now.

She'd watched him destroy Vladimir and she knew after listening to the 'trial' that had unfolded in that awful clearing that he'd played his part in her Stefan's demise also. She might not directly blame Eleazar for her beloved's death, she'd known all along that the two brothers were on a crusade from which they might not return, but Eleazar's part in it could not be forgiven.

No, Eleazar had not wielded the final blow to her husband but he'd sanctioned it and had stood beside the one who had. Edward Cullen. The name burned in her brain as she said it. He'd taken her reason for living, for loving, for existing and now she was alone.

Ana had no capacity for hate. She didn't hate Edward Cullen, but like Eleazar she couldn't forgive him either. It was Edward who'd told them to run that day. It had been Edward who'd promised them safe retreat and he'd kept his word. Nobody followed them, nobody had come for them and nobody had hounded them since. She was grateful for that but that was where her compassion ended. He'd done what was necessary to protect his wife and child and Ana understood that, but it was she who had paid the price for the actions that day. It was she who'd lost her husband, her mate, in order for Cullen to have his. The balance in this was equal, but it hurt. It was agonising.

She'd fought with Stefan over the trip so often, twice it had come to violence, but he would not be swayed. He'd been royalty, he'd been a ruler, master of his kind for centuries and when that system of governing had changed he'd failed to change with it. Nothing she'd said or done would sway him and he'd paid with his life for his actions. She'd paid with her heart.

Ana might not actually want to be 'alive' – if that was what she was - but neither did she wish to be truly dead. She just wished to be left alone with her grief. She fed when something was brought to her but other than that she did not leave her chamber, despite the pleading of her family. She took no part in castle life; she socialised with no one and wanted it that way.

She knew Eleazar would come to her eventually and she also knew that he too would join in the pleading, but she had no intention of changing anything at all about herself. She was alone and she wanted it that way. Without Stefan she was existing, not living.

"I'm sorry Eleazar, Edward isn't here. He's away with Bella for a few days before the school opens," Esme told him politely.

Eleazar sighed. "They'll be back tomorrow?" he asked.

"Late, I think," she told him. "Is everything alright Eleazar?"

"Yes of course, I merely wished to ask a point of protocol regarding the council. Nothing to worry about. I'll call again in a few days. Keep well," he told her as he rang off.

He could call one of the others, perhaps Carlisle or even Marcus or Aro, whom he was sure would counsel him honestly, but it was Edward he wished to discuss all of this with. He owed the younger man his loyalty and was determined to be as honest as he could with him when he did finally get to speak with him. It seemed however, that was not going to be anytime soon.

Eleazar made his way back to the castle, and the screaming of Dom, and decided that the time was ripe to approach Ana.

**EPOV**

It felt so good to be carefree again that I was seriously considering not going home yet. I wouldn't mind not ever having to face the press about the opening of the school and I knew Bella would feel sure that Antony could handle anything that came up.

I'd managed to shake off the worried feelings I'd had about the lurking human and had all but lost myself in the arms of my beautiful wife over the last two days. As ever she calmed me, soothed me, loved me, let me be just me.

"Let's stay another day," I hedged, trying to gauge her reaction.

She began shaking her head before she spoke the first word and I knew, without needing to read from her, what she was going to say. "We can't. I want to, god you know I want to, but there's Nessa, and Seth, the family and there are people at the school counting on us Edward. You mostly, but I've got classes to teach too."

"I know," I said forlornly. I kissed her neck softly and felt her shiver. We were back to chest, sitting up against a giant Sitka spruce just watching the world go by. "I know," I said again, trying to convince myself of the correctness of her statement. "But Antony can run the place blindfolded and Flick would be able to handle anything he couldn't."

"You're right, they could handle almost anything that came up, I'm sure," she said and I began to hope that she'd given in and we could stay another day. I should've known she'd play me. "But then it wouldn't be your school, would it? It would be just another school run by a handful of people who have nothing invested in the welfare of the students other than a pay check at the end of the month. You've worked too hard to pull this off to let one of the others run it now."

I kissed her again and began to chuckle. "You think you can sway me by appealing to my ego?" I laughed.

She didn't laugh though. "It's not ego, Edward," she said fiercely, turning in my arms and facing me fully. "I know you, I see you, and I see what you don't want anyone else to see. This means more to you than a boost to your ego. Don't try to play down all that you've achieved. I've watched you build this thing from an idea on a scrap of paper to a beautiful, living thing. You've spent a century looking for something to be proud of and you know you've found it, so cut the bullshit and go run it like I know you want to."

When she was passionate about something – or busting my balls about something – her eyes darkened and her venom increased in flavour, I could smell it. I knew she was proud of me but the conviction on her face told me she believed in me too.

"But the council is important too. What if there just isn't time to devote to them both? What if I run the school like I want to but the council gets shoved aside? What if I devote my time to making the council work and school gets neglected? What then? And what about you and Nessa, and Seth and the family and your family, fuck what about the wolves and your parents and shit...What if I fail? What if I fuck this up? What if one fails, what if they both fail? One is a very public fail Bella, the press would love to jump on a story like that, they'd crucify me and by association you too, and the others...fuck," I muttered, running a hand through my hair in frustration. I'd just put voice to all my fears and it didn't feel fucking cleansing at all, it felt scary.

_Now_ she laughed. I pour my heart out to her and she fucking laughs!

"I don't mean to laugh; really I don't..." she trailed off as she tried to get control of herself. "I'm sorry darling, I didn't mean to laugh at you," she patted my cheek softly and I inhaled involuntarily from it. She got up onto her hands and knees and pushed my own knees further apart so she could kneel between them. She put her hands to my shoulders and smiled warmly at me. "I've never seen you like this. So unsure of yourself. You are the most intelligent, loyal and incredible person I've ever known Edward and I believe in you. I always have and I always will. Edward, I _know _you," she growled softly. "You've never failed at anything, ever, and I know you won't fail at this either. And not just the school. The council too. But you aren't alone. You think you are. You think all the responsibility for both those things lies solely with you, but you're wrong. I'm here, we're all here and we aren't going anywhere. There is a reason so many of us wanted 'in' on the school when you first mentioned it. There is a reason the vote for the council went so easily, so smoothly and why you couldn't shake those bastards. There is a reason everyone wanted you to lead us in the fight. There is a reason that everyone deferred to you, even Carlisle, and there is a reason that the council exists at all. That reason is you, love. You. Everyone who's ever met you, and probably some who haven't yet, know that you can do this. We all know it, we all believe it and not because we're bound to because we're family, or friends, but because we see the leader inside you. We see the man you are. You aren't alone. You don't need to do this all by yourself. If you _want _to do it all alone that's one thing, but you shouldn't do it alone because you think we aren't here to help. We are. I'll do anything you ask of me, always, without hesitation and you know I will. All you have to do is ask me."

With that she let my shoulders go, gave me a short curt nod and then sat back down against my chest again. She took both my hands and clasped them in hers on her belly and huffed lightly.

I took a few minutes to think on all that she said. I did want to run my school and I knew I could do it well. I knew I wanted to lead the council too, I knew I could do both but I didn't want to alienate my family to accomplish it all. I didn't want to take time away from her, from them, in order to have some achievement to feel proud of. They, my girls, were my proudest achievement. And so I took her offer of help and ran with it. I asked her for what I needed.

"Love me. It's all I ask Isabella."

**BPOV**

I smiled even though I knew he couldn't see my face. I'd given him an 'out' for both the council and the school. I'd given him my assurance that I was there to help with whatever he needed. I told him I believed in him and I made sure he knew he could ask me to do anything for him and I'd do it.

And all he asks is that I love him.

It was as simple a request as it was beautiful. I did love him. Heart and soul I loved him. Right or wrong. Black or white. Monster or man. I loved him. And so I did. Thoroughly, right there on the sandy beach on some island I'd never heard of. I loved him.

Our trek home wasn't quite as exhilarating as the one we'd taken to our idyllic island, but it was nice all the same. Gone was that tingling feeling of anticipation for a few days alone and in its place was a nervous excitement to see Nessa. I hated leaving her behind but had craved the hours I'd been able to spend alone with Edward too. I had been torn but now that we'd been away and were now returning I knew that it was something we had both needed.

The school would open in just one more day and I knew that there were a million and one things to still be done, but I was so happy we'd managed this short trip away.

We emerged from the river right by the jetty and with one last long, deep kiss we ran hand in hand up the backyard. We were dripping wet but Nessa didn't seem to care as she flung herself at us as we reached the pool house.

"Mommy! Daddy!" she bellowed as she ran toward us.

Edward hung back and let me pull her to me but I knew he too was aching to have her in his arms. After I'd covered her tiny face in kisses, and she'd attempted to show me every second of what I'd missed the past two days, I set her down and the whole scene was repeated with Edward. He tapped his temple and she screwed her little face up and concentrated hard on her beaming father.

Whatever he told her mentally she liked because her lilting giggle floated from her and echoed off the surrounding trees.

"Oh daddy, I missed you too!" she cried as he tossed her up onto his shoulders and headed up onto the decking. "Don't go inside, Nana-Ne will be cross if you drip all over her clean floors," she admonished cheekily.

Edward chuckled and took absolutely no notice of the warning and walked right through the glass doors and into the house. I wasn't far behind but hung back on the decking. I waited for the shriek and wasn't disappointed.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!" Esme squealed, "You are dripping all over my clean floors!"

I could hear the teasing in her voice and knew that he wasn't really in all that much trouble. Esme was house proud but I knew she'd be happier to see the return of her son than she would be cross because of a few drips. Nessa, of course, didn't know that.

"I told him Nana-Ne, I did, I told him he'd be in trouble," she giggled as I watched Edward fling her off his shoulders and into his arms once again.

She shrieked and wriggled as he tickled her. "You told me alright, cheeky monkey," he chuckled as she writhed and kicked. When she was breathless he righted her again and tucked her into his side. "Are you ready to come home for a little bit?"

She smiled wide and nodded violently. She turned and thanked her grandmother – very sincerely and daintily too – for having her the last two days then ran out the glass doors again, grabbing my hand on the way past, pulling me down the yard. I guess she was as eager to be at home with us again as we were to be with her.

**EPOV**

Nothing, and I mean nothing, could compare to the utter relief I felt with them both beside me again. I had Bella to my left, her hand in mine, and Nessa to the right also with her hand in mine and I felt an overwhelming sense of belonging as we ran towards our home in the woods.

Nessa jumped from foot to foot, just as Alice did when she was excited, and flew into the cottage the instant I had the door unlocked. She ran down the little hallway and into her room leaving her mother and I to share a wink and a content sigh as we listened to our little girl saying hello to her possessions as though she'd been away from them for months.

Our evening was just what I wanted, and needed, it to be. Bella cooked a meal for Nessa and once she was fat and happy, bathed and changed into her pyjamas we ran to the big house for our regular visit. This visit, however, was for mine and Bella's benefit, not Nessa's.

I was strangely pleased to see everyone, even after such a short separation. With the opening of the school looming and all the new goings on with the council I had missed the serenity of the simple family pleasures I sought and found at the big house of an evening. I'd missed so many nights, unable to leave the school, or postpone the conference calls between the council members, so I was extra happy to spend some quiet time with the family tonight.

Tomorrow the media circus could begin but for now I could lose myself within the family.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked me as she tilted her head and tried in vain to understand.

I'd pulled her aside and asked her to run with me a little bit knowing that the others would more than likely worry. But there was nothing for it; I had to seek her counsel on this.

I ran my hand through my hair and kicked the rock she sat on for good measure. "I mean what I said," I huffed. I didn't think it was that complicated. "I didn't smell a human, hadn't smelled one for hours actually, and I didn't hear him either. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, with no warning and no sound of approach, there was a male human mental voice. I can't explain it any more plainly than that."

She thought on it for a second before answering. "Okay. What was he thinking then?"

"That's the strangest part. He knew what we were and he thought we were fascinating."

"Huh," she huffed. "And you didn't recognise the voice? The scent?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't. I didn't actually smell him anyway, just heard him. We walked all over that island for two days and I never smelled a human scent, at all…not even a lingering one, perhaps from someone who'd been there a few hours or days before we got there. Nothing."

"Now that's just weird," she scoffed. "How can a human leave no scent behind?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe it's their gift? Who knows? Have you seen anything?"

She shook her head violently. "Nothing like that, no. I mean, sure I've seen things, but I haven't seen anyone interacting with a human that I don't already know, no. What's bothering you about this the most?"

It was a good question and I told her so. "I don't know really. And I'm not sure it's bothering me exactly, it's just something I've never encountered before so I'm not sure what to think exactly."

Her thoughts changed from curiosity for the tale I had to tell to concern right as her facial features changed to match. "Are you scared of this, whatever this is?"

"No, I'm not," I told her firmly. I needed to be clear about that. I didn't want anyone worrying about this. I didn't want a panic and I didn't want our lives thrown into upheaval because I simply heard a voice in the forest. "We weren't snuck up on and the thoughts weren't dangerous or treacherous or anything, it was just weird. I can't explain it any other way, it was just weird. It's never happened before and I didn't, don't, like it."

She smiled then. "Okay, so some human knew what you were. No big deal. Who are they going to tell and who would listen? Secondly, he didn't approach you and his thoughts weren't threatening or anything, so just a curious human. Nothing to worry about."

I shrugged, not knowing what else to do or say. I knew I had to tell her the rest and I had planned to all along, I just wanted to see what she thought about the initial encounter before I revealed the rest. So far she hadn't seemed too concerned, so I threw the rest out there.

"Whoever it was is enrolled at the school," I whispered and got myself prepared for her reaction.

She whipped her head around to face me so fast she was a blur. "What?" she shrieked.

I nodded. "It's true. Whoever he is, his last thought before his mental voice disappeared again, was that he was looking forward to attending my school because we fascinated him."

"Holy shit," she whispered and sprung up from her perch on the rock. She paced, just as I'd done in this very spot so many times before, thinking about what to do and say now. "Do you think you'd know this 'voice' if you heard it again?" she asked, putting in the inverted comma's with her hands.

"Probably," I agreed.

"Can you match a thought to a scent?" she asked, eyeing me carefully.

"Probably, what's your point?" I asked.

She held up her finger and continued to pace while she formed her thoughts into a more orderly argument. I grinned, hearing from her thoughts what she meant before she voiced them. "Well, even if you can pick up the thoughts you have no scent marker to add to them, I just wondered if you'd be able to point out the person who matched the thoughts you heard yesterday."

"I think I could. But, you have to remember, there are going to be hundreds of people swarming the place this first few weeks while everyone gets settled in, it might take me a little while to work out which thoughts go with which student."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. Then let's do that. Keep your ears peeled, or whatever it is you do," she giggled as she waved at me, "and when you can work out who it is you tell me and I'll make sure I get a good look, and a smell, and we'll see what comes to me. Easy."

I chuckled, "Yeah, easy."

She swatted at my arm and looped her hand through it as we began to walk home. "Bella knows?" she asked cautiously.

"She does," I told her honestly.

"Good," she giggled. "You were such an emo asshole when she left you last time."

**BPOV**

Nessa begged to be allowed to go to the school with us for the press conference and opening ceremony but she just couldn't. I knew she was proud of Edward and wanted to share his triumphant moment, but it just wasn't smart to let her go with us.

She cried and tried to con one of the others into taking her but they too knew how important it was that she not be seen with us, not yet anyway. Any link, however tenuous, that could be made between her and us – any of us – would mean she couldn't attend year about, if at all. She knew and understood that but cried and whined as we prepared to leave anyway.

Edward was, as always, wonderful with her. He very calmly explained the situation again and dried her tears with his thumbs. He told her that we were very sorry that she was going to miss the ceremony but then tapped his temple.

Whatever it was that he told her made her eyes sparkle and her little cheeks flush as she laughed. It did the trick. She stopped crying and although she looked so forlorn to be left behind she was no longer upset about it.

Edward and I would go to the school early, for last minute checks, and the others would follow later after my mother had collected both Angel and Nessa. It was Nessa's first day of term too and I was sorry to be missing it but also nervously excited to be able to stand beside Edward for his big moment.

Nessa would go to school and Angel would go with Renee to the daycare centre. She was being coached on how to behave like a human in readiness for her own schooling which would start very soon too.

Seth was livid to be missing all the excitement today. He'd begged anyone who'd listen to be allowed to come, but today was the first day of senior classes and he was finally a senior. He had to complete the orientation program and get all his timetables and textbooks today, it wasn't something he could or should miss. He'd had so much time off during the war, then the aftermath of that, that nobody wanted him to miss a single day if it could be helped. He moped and argued but eventually Sam ordered him, as his alpha, to go to his own school.

I had hoped that Edward would suggest he attend our school but as yet he'd made no mention of it. Neither had Harry, Sue or Sam. I was disappointed. Seth would go off to college next year, hopefully, and the chance to have him at school with us would be lost. I was also sad for Nessa. Until she herself was at college they wouldn't have a chance to interact in a school setting, ever, if Seth didn't come to us.

It was a pretty pissed off Seth who left the cottage that morning and headed for school.

The others, however, were excited and loud when we reached the big house.

Rose had asked for a few hours off to come and watch the opening and Sam had agreed. In the end he was shutting the garage for the morning so that everyone who worked there could come too. It was very sweet of him.

Emmett, Jasper and Alice would be at the school as teachers, of course, so they were all excited to finally be opening too.

Esme was proud and Carlisle had rearranged his patient schedule so he too could come and watch his son open his school.

Edward was not keen for the media component of today's opening but knew that it was unavoidable. If he was to run the school the way he wanted – using investors and suppliers to keep fees low – he had no choice but to allow the media into the place today. Without their coverage, good or bad, a return on the investor's money might not happen. That would be disastrous. So, after many a heated discussion with Antony it was agreed that Edward would make a speech, cut a ribbon and smile for the cameras. Then the press would be given a guided tour – led by each of the department heads if the weather turned bad as Alice had predicted, or by Antony if it was sunny.

Personally I was praying for sunshine.

I was nervous as hell for Edward and even more so for myself. Leading a tour of my section for the press sounded worse than facing the Romanian's, but I never said it out loud.

Edward's office was already teeming with people when we arrived a full two hours before the scheduled ceremony. Flick had a handle on everything though. She was ushering nervous parents around, ordering staff to take care of them and show them around as necessary. She fielded telephone enquiries with aplomb and answered a hundred different questions from staff members who looked just as nervous as I felt.

I waved to her as I went through the downstairs reception area and she gave me a weak smile and a small wave in return as she wedged the telephone under her ear with her shoulder.

Miz Collins greeted me with the same weak smile but hers looked sinister rather than nervous. That was confirmed for me when Edward came in behind me and her smile turned into the most fake, forced smile I'd ever seen.

"Good morning Mr Cullen. It's a big day, congratulations," she simpered.

"Good morning Linda. Get Antony up here will you? I need to speak with him before we kick off. Oh, and can you get me the Brooks family file too please." With that he swept by her and pulled me, by the hand, into his office. He shut the door firmly and pulled me to his chest. Inhaling into my hair he sighed. "I have to fire her," he whispered into the hollow at my throat.

I shivered as he kissed me but wondered why now, of all times, he'd decided he needed rid of the awful Miz Collins. "Why?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He kissed me once more then sighed again. "Because I can't tolerate her rudeness anymore."

"What rudeness?" I asked, thinking back on the very brief conversation they'd just shared in the outer office.

"She said good morning to me and deliberately ignored you. I won't have it any longer. She's awful and I don't like the things she thinks about you."

"I don't care that she didn't say good morning to me," I giggled. "And since when is it a crime to think something about someone? How will you explain why you're firing her if you've only got her private thoughts as the excuse?"

"Shit," he mumbled and stood away from me a little to rub his fingers through his hair. "Alright. She can stay for now, but I'll be watching and the first time she steps out of line she's out of here."

I couldn't help but laugh a little. "I don't care if she stays or goes. I really don't. It's true I don't like her, but I don't have to like her, do I? If she works hard and you trust her to do her job I don't see too much of a problem."

He smiled. "No, you don't have to like her. And she's actually pretty good at her job."

"And whomever you get is going to be exactly the same. You know that right?"

"How so?" he asked, cocking his head to one side adorably.

"Anyone you hire, who's female, probably some males too," I giggled. "They're all going to lust after you. I'm used to it."

He furrowed his brow and licked his bottom lip. "You're used to it, are you?"

I shrugged. I didn't like it, but I knew the score. "Of course I am. I was one of them once myself you know," I giggled. "Even without the whole sparkly vampire with the amazingly flawless features and the intoxicating scent you're fucking hot Edward," I laughed.

He took a tiny step closer and licked his bottom lip again. His eyes began to darken as he spoke. "You think I'm fucking hot?" he asked as he came closer still. He rested the palms of his hands on either side of my face, against the door frame, and hovered over me, his beautiful crooked grin plastered to his face.

"You know I do," I whispered conspiratorially. "I'll let you in on a little something I use to stop me from tearing into that bitch on a daily basis," I told him with a nod of my head towards the outer office. "She can, and does, look at you as though you're the last drink of water in the desert but at the end of the day you go home to me. She can think all she likes, I don't really care what thoughts she has about you, or me, because I know that you couldn't be lured away unless you wanted to be."

His grin increased and he once again licked his bottom lip. "I remember you telling me that years ago, way back at the start. You told me I had nothing to worry about because you couldn't be taken from me by someone else if you didn't want to go." He trailed the backs of his fingers down my cheek and I shuddered under his touch. He held my gaze. "You were so fucking smart back then, still are, and you're still too fucking good for the likes of me."

He didn't allow me to respond, he simply dipped his head to mine and captured my lips with his. Somehow the roles had been reversed and it was now Edward who was marking his territory even though it had been Linda's thoughts about him that had led to this discussion in the first place. I never looked my horny vampire - bearing pleasurable gifts - in the mouth and kissed him back just as hungrily.

He was nervous. He trembled as he held me. I knew he was worried about the media exposure and what it would mean for us all so I put everything I could into that kiss and held him tightly to me. I laced my fingers into his hair and pulled his mouth to mine harder, winning for myself a delicious growl that I swallowed down.

Then, right behind my right shoulder I felt and heard a knock at the door. He didn't jump away from me, instead he smirked, ran his fingers over my bottom lip and whispered that we'd finish that tonight more thoroughly.

He stepped aside and I quickly went to the chair opposite his desk. I smoothed my skirt and ran a hasty hand through my hair just as Linda came into the office at Edward's command.

"This is the Brooks family file and Antony is on his way up," she announced as she handed him the file.

"Thank you," he mumbled and began to flip through the file. "A little later on I'll be expecting a call from David Piper. No matter where I am or who I'm with I need to speak with him, you let me know right away, I'll have my cell if I'm not in here at the time," he told her, all business now. "Can you update the media listing for me and print me another copy and then I'll need to speak with all the staff in the conference room for a few minutes before nine."

"Yes sir, I'll make they're all there. Can I get you something, coffee, tea?" she simpered and Edward grimaced ever so slightly. Not enough for her to notice, but I saw it.

"No, I'm fine, but my wife might like something," he scowled.

"Oh, sorry Mrs Cullen. Can I get you something?" she asked with barely concealed annoyance.

"No, I'm great, I've got all I need right here," I smirked. "I'm so proud of you baby," I drawled across the desk to a now grinning Edward.

"Thanks, baby," he replied lazily and leaned back in his chair to clasp his hands above his head. "I've only been so successful to date because I have this gorgeous creature at my side," he told Linda with a brief nod in my direction. Point made.

He looked so cocky, so confident, I wanted him.

Our 'show' had had the desired effect on Linda, however, and she shuffled her feet awkwardly and left the office as fast as she could.

"God I love you," he chuckled as he drew the file closer to himself on the desk.

"As I do you," I giggled. "What do you need me to do?"

He turned the file and placed it in front of me and then pointed to the small photograph of a boy that was pinned to the top of the typed page. "This is Jo Brooks. I got this application from the music teacher at his school in Pittsburgh. The parents don't even know he's been recommended for here. They taped a recent school concert performance and sent it with the application, even the kid doesn't know."

I read a little about the boy, he made average grades and looked and sounded like any other fourteen year old boy on any other application I'd seen over the past months. But, if Edward had singled out this particular application there was a reason for it. "If he didn't want to apply why are you considering him?" I asked.

He leaned back again and put his hands behind his head. His grin now looked self conscious and not at all like the cocky one had he worn as we 'marked our territory' in front of Linda just now.

"The recording," he said slowly. "It was modern, rock music, but god...Bella...the raw talent in that boys fingers! He's never had a lesson and doesn't even take music classes at his school. He was the understudy for the school production! You have no idea Bella, how he went undetected for so long astounds me."

I could hear the excitement in his voice and wondered why he didn't just call the parents and offer the boy a place. I didn't get what point he was trying to make with me, so I asked him. "Okay, the kids got talent, but I don't get it. Offer him a place. What's the deal?"

"I ran out of time. With the council and the christening, the wedding and all the shit going on here, I ran out of time to do much more than listen to the recording. But I want him here Bella. I want to teach him. He's never played classical music as far as anyone at his school can tell me and I want the chance to show him just what he can achieve."

"But..." I trailed off, knowing there was a but.

"They live in Pittsburgh Bella. He's an only child and they aren't in a position to just pack up and move across the country."

He seemed sad to be telling me this and I knew then that he had a plan. Edward didn't share things with me like this unless he already had a plan in place. "Just spit it out Edward," I huffed good naturedly.

He sprung forward, leaning over the desk towards me and flipped the page in the file until I was looking at what I assumed were two pictures of the boy's parents. "His mother Eileen, she works at a chicken processing factory for minimum wage. His dad Stuart is a long haul truck driver. They didn't choose these professions. It was for convenience. The dad is an ex Marine, he was an engineer; the mother is a chef by trade but couldn't work a restaurant because with the dad gone nights driving she had nobody to watch the kid. I want to offer them both jobs here, at the school, and bring Jo into the music program."

"You want to pay for them to move across the country?" I asked and he nodded. "You want to give them both jobs, here at the school?" Again he nodded. "You need my permission or something?" I laughed.

He did too. "No, not really, I just didn't want to do anything that huge without telling you first. It's your money too."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, it's my money too," I laughed. I closed the file but kept it in my hand. With my free hand I pointed a finger at him and waggled it. "I see you Edward Cullen. I know what you've been up to. I get admission reports via email you know. I know you've paid the tuition for at least fourteen kids so far and I didn't have a problem with that so I'm not going to have a problem with this."

His eyes widened and then he grinned. "You knew?" he asked with his brows furrowed.

"Of course I did, I'm not stupid," I told him sarcastically.

"Never said you were," he laughed.

"Right, so if you have this all figured out I'm going to take this file and go call Eileen. Wish me luck," I blew him a kiss across the desk and made my way to the door.

"Good luck Mrs Cullen," he called as he reached for the other stack of files on the desk. "Oh, and, it's more like nineteen, but thanks for not calling me on it."

"Son of a bitch," I chuckled as I went through the door, flipping him off over my shoulder as I went.

**EPOV**

My wife was something else!

She sashayed out of my office with the file under her arm and I knew, just knew, she'd do her best to get that family to Port Angeles.

I reached for another file with one hand and adjusted my dick with the other. I couldn't help it; she's too fucking hot for her own good.

I signed all the things that needed signing and as I placed the last of the correspondence into its designated slot I heard, and read, Antony's approach in the outer office.

"Come in," I called as soon as he'd knocked.

He came in bearing a big smile. He was nervous too, probably about as nervous as I was, and sat when I waved to the chair opposite. "Big day boss," he chuckled.

"Sure is," I agreed and pulled out the old media listing. "Many changes to this?" I asked as I waved it.

"Nothing really. I've added one more local radio slot and two more international phone interviews, but that's it."

I nodded and read down the list as it stood. "And you're sure these are all reputable?" I asked.

"I've checked them all out, personally, and I believe so, yes. Look, I know it seems like a lot but we have to get the name out there. I know you don't necessarily agree with that, but it's the only way to run this place as a business."

"Its fine," I waved over the top of the paper. He was worried that I'd balk or pull the pin later in the day but I had no intention of sabotaging the whole set up like that. I didn't want to do the media, that was true, but I'd do it if it meant this school worked like it was supposed to. "Can you run me through exactly what you need me to say one more time, I'm shitting myself over here," I chuckled in an attempt to diffuse our joint anxiety.

He relaxed a little and laughed too. "You'll be great, trust me," he replied and pulled out the well worn copy of my blurb for yet another run down.

At exactly ten minutes to nine I buttoned my suit jacket and walked into the conference room. All the staff were there, some sitting but a lot standing around the periphery of the room. I smiled at Bella and my brothers and sisters and took the file Flick handed me as I took my position at the head of the table. I didn't sit. This wasn't a meeting.

I took a second to read over what I'd been handed, nodded once to Flick and handed the file back. "Tell them yes," I told her then turned back to the assembled crowd. I took a deep breath and tried to be grateful for the wave of calm Jasper was projecting on to me. "Thank you all for coming," I told them straight up. There were a few murmurs but a general feeling of excitement for what was about to come from all the teachers and associated staff gathered. I was so grateful to them all for giving this a shot with me. "First, this initial week is going to be hell. Make no mistake there will be fuck ups," I chuckled. "You all know this is my first time doing anything like this and I'll admit there are going to be holes in my plans and gaps in my reasoning. But, I think that together we can pull this off. You're all good at what you do or you wouldn't be here. We've got a great team here and I think we can really do something amazing, but it won't work if we aren't a team. Your problems are my problems. Your failures are my failures just like your wins are my wins. I don't take credit for your work and I don't want you to have to take responsibility for my mistakes, but as a team we need to know how everyone is getting on. I know it's a cliché but it works, so my door is always open. Nothing is too small, too petty, to bring to me. If you aren't happy here, for whatever reason, the students will feel it and I don't want anything to stand in the way of what we can all teach them. As you know every single one of the kids have been handpicked because they are good at, or show potential, in their chosen field. I want that to grow. I want this place to churn out as many happy, well adjusted geniuses as it can," I laughed and soaked up the shared good will of those around me who all seemed to share my enthusiasm for our task. "Today is going to be tough. There is a media circus brewing out there at the gates and you're all going to be stared at and judged by how you handle that. Remember that. I don't want you to think that you represent me or even the school today. You represent the students who you'll be teaching. I don't want false niceties. I don't want a fake aura of perfection. I want you to show these journalists how passionate you are about your individual departments. I want them to see what I saw when you interviewed for me. I want you to be proud of what we're trying to achieve here. On the other side of the coin, any of you who feel this isn't the right place for you, or who isn't comfortable being a team player, go now. I'll pay you a month's salary up front and we'll go our separate ways, no questions asked." I nodded around the room but nobody went to move so I went on. "I don't know if there will be time to speak with you all personally between now and tomorrow when the students descend, but I'll do my best. So I'll tell you all, as group right now, that I'm so proud of you all already. You showed up, perfectly turned out and I hope as ready as I am to get this show on the road."

I stood back a little to show that I was finished and waited for them all to file out and go back to their offices. It didn't quite happen that way.

Jasper stood, looked about the room, and then nodded to Flick. "Nice speech, brother," he smirked and punched me on the shoulder. "We all just wanted you to know we've got your back. We're all ready to do this. We're all just as excited as you are and we'll do our very best for you."

All I could do was nod. I felt choked up as I listened to a hundred or so staff agree with all he'd said in their thoughts. I was so very grateful.

Emmett broke the silence with a loud clap of his hands. "Right, you heard the man, let's get this show on the road."

They all filed out then and I sought Bella's hand as we too left the conference room and headed down to the first floor. Antony met us at the front doors and walked with us towards the front of the school. I'd been hearing the vans arriving and the camera crews setting up their equipment for hours but as we approached the assembled crowd grew rowdier.

Bella squeezed my hand then let it go and moved to Flick's side as our small group made its way towards the throng. I got the shock of my life when I turned out through the gates and saw the crowd.

There were hundreds and hundreds of people lining the parking lot. Some I recognised, some I didn't. The clicking of cameras was deafening but not as loud as the mental thoughts of the staff who had come out onto the tarmac too. I had assumed that they'd retreat to their offices to hide from the media, just like I wanted to do. But here they were. All of them. In neat rows, four deep, on either side of the imposing brick gates that bore my name. They each had a wide smile and looked so impressively cohesive that I could hardly contain myself. Emotion swelled in my chest as I fought it. They had come to give me their support. They were into this. They wanted this to work just like I did.

**BPOV**

I saw the emotion swell inside him when he realised that everyone had come outside to stand beside him. He'd had no idea. Em had suggested it and everyone had been quick to agree. I'd assumed that he'd read the plans from someone's head but it was obvious now that he hadn't. It wasn't often you could surprise Edward; he just might have been nervous enough this morning to not notice the plan. We'd stand beside the 'boss man' because we all believed in him.

Esme dabbed daintily at her dry eyes with a linen hanky and Carlisle wore a wide smile as they watched their son make good on his dreams.

Flick reached for my hand as it hung beside me and squeezed. I winked at her and turned back to watch Edward do his thing.

"Thank you all for coming. I welcome you all to EC College. Our term begins tomorrow so before our students arrive I invite you all to tour the grounds and see for yourselves what we have to offer. Without the support of local and global investment in education none of this would be possible so I urge you all to take advantage of the information in the prospectus and help us to make this work." He turned briefly to Antony who handed him a giant pair of scissors. He hovered above the decorative red ribbon that was strung across the pavement to symbolise the opening of the facility. "I dedicate the opening of this school to the family I adore and to all the students who will come here to learn from us." With that he snipped the ribbon to a resounding round of applause from everyone gathered.

As the press descended and the public rushed forward to get into the school itself Flick and I dropped back a little. She still held my hand firmly in hers and I clung to her, too nervous to move.

When the crowd thinned and the other staff began to move inside she leaned down at whispered very softly into my ear. "I didn't think it was possible but he's even hotter when he's nervous," she giggled. Edward immediately shot her a 'look' but it only made her laugh louder. "He knows he is," she threw him a quick thumbs up then pulled me along with her and back into the offices. She pulled me into the stock room and closed the door behind us.

She obviously had something on her mind because her eyes darted from side to side even though we were totally alone. "What gives?" I asked.

She sighed, ran a hand through her hair and grinned down at me. "I've met someone," she blurted out excitedly.

I giggled and pulled her hand back to mine. "Tell me," I begged.

We were terrible gossips but it never hurt anyone so she nodded fiercely. "I know you aren't going to like this because, well, he's like you and the boss..." she trailed off and I wondered what the hell she was about to say. I tilted my head to one side and tried to keep the panic from my face. I think I failed. "Tell me everything you can about Dieter."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**I think I am finally back into the swing of writing my vamps again now :) It took some doing though. I've read and reread this story over and over during the past two weeks and have read and rewritten so many of my notes to remind me how they behave and speak. It's a very odd feeling, knowing them all so well and not being able to enunciate clearly what I'd like them to say. But...**

**If you have found something in this chapter that you've enjoyed please let me know. Also, if you hated it and would like to tell me where I've gone wrong please also let me know. Any and all advice, good and bad, are deeply appreciated. **

**Please review. **


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 19 – Media Hound

**EPOV**

I wasn't enjoying this part of it. This was exactly what our kind had been taught to avoid, and yet, here I was in front of a hundred cameras. Fuck.

"How many students have you accepted so far Mr Cullen?" the girl from Bay News asked.

I knew the exact number of course, but didn't want to seem too pretentious. It felt ridiculous to have to 'dumb' myself down, but it was necessary. "Around one hundred and sixty so far but we have the room and the facilities to take another hundred or so."

"Is it true you have no experience teaching Mr Cullen?" a boy from CNBC asked as he thrust his microphone into my face.

I smiled and tried to look unoffended. "You are quite correct," I nodded minutely but continued before he could attempt to attack my character with his next offensive question. "However, I do hold a teaching degree and another in business management. What better way to learn than in a hands on situation, being taught by some of the finest and most experienced Department Masters this country has to offer?" Antony had coached me over and over about questions such as this and I'd learned those lessons well.

The boy dropped back a little and a tiny Asian looking woman with thick glasses took his place and thrust her microphone into my face too. "Is it true that you speak several languages Mr Cullen?" she asked.

I considered the question only long enough to extract from her head the origin of her own hint of an accent, then answered her in her native tongue. "Oo, ito ay tunay. Ako upang makita nagawa mo na ang iyong araling-bahay," I told her in Filipino. (_Yes, it's true. I'm pleased to see you've done your homework.)_ She giggled softly and bowed her head at me before taking a step back to allow someone else to accost me.

I didn't like the look of the man who shoved his way to the front, almost knocking a woman sideways in his haste, and my initial assessment of him was proved correct as he formed his question in his thoughts before speaking. "Some people have said that you are too young yourself to be entrusted with the educational future of the children who have enrolled to come here. How do you respond?" he asked with a sinister smirk.

Antony was going to get a raise, a big one. I smiled sweetly at the man and nodded my head as though I was considering my answer carefully. The media throng held a collective breath, hoping for a blood bath that they could capture on film and splash across the nations newspapers tomorrow morning. I was pleased to disappoint. "Name four," I asked calmly of the reporter who'd asked the question.

"S-s-sorry?" he stumbled.

"Name four of them, please."

"Um, well, it was a generalisation," he mumbled.

"Anyone else have a question?" I asked smugly.

The hour allotted to this passed in much the same way from then on in. I dodged and weaved, charmed and smiled as wide as I could as I fielded question after question. I tried to seem humble rather than arrogant, grateful for the opportunity the parents were giving me to teach their children. I was desperate to look at my watch and then to Antony who would know, I hoped, that I was at my limit. He actually rescued me without me needing to even look.

He stepped up beside me, clipboard at the ready, and shut that circus down. "Thank you folks, we appreciate you coming all this way in this appalling weather. Mr Cullen has other interviews to get to so I'm going to have to ask those of you who don't have an invitation for the tour to pack up your equipment. Those of you who do have an invitation please take a few moments to read the prospectus and make yourselves familiar with the general layout of the grounds on the map provided while I apprise Mr Cullen of his next appointments for a few moments. We'll begin our tour shortly."

He took no shit either. Half of the journalists were poised to just start shouting more questions but Antony, that smooth Latin fucker, simply turned his back to them and walked with me to the front doors of the administration building.

"You did good boss, better than good, you were brilliant," he chuckled as he handed me the now updated and reprinted media engagement schedule. "You've got twenty minutes before the telephone interviews start so try to relax, have a coffee, get your head down or whatever you need to do. Flick has the schedule and she knows who to put through to you and when, and for how long. You did good kid," he slapped me on the shoulder.

"Thanks. They're vultures," I mumbled.

"They are, definitely. But they are also the eyes to the world and they're about to take their tapes and notes back to their offices and write what I think is going to be an extremely complimentary report about you, my friend. Jesus you can be charming when you want to be," he laughed.

"Don't get used to it, I don't do it often," I laughed along and thanked him for all his coaching.

I took the schedule indoors and went right to my office. As soon as my ass hit my chair I dialled Bella's cell.

"Fuck I want you!" she sighed into the phone as she answered.

"I hope that comment was meant for me and not one of your colleagues Mrs Cullen," I laughed.

"You were so good. So smooth. I heard you, you had them in the palm of your hand. Em wanted to run down there and knock the shit out of that asshole that asked those horrible questions, but you did so well. God, Edward, I love you so much," she sang.

"And I love you baby, we're on our way," I crowed.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be right there," she said to whomever it was that had come into her office. "I gotta go baby, I'm on stage in five minutes. Wish me luck, love you, bye." With that she hung up.

I sat at my desk and stared at the prospectus. I'd done it. I'd built it, staffed it, funded it, opened it and faced the evil press. I only had four phone interviews to survive and I was home free.

Of course, that was just the beginning. Tomorrow the students would arrive and we'd all be thrown headlong into the fire again.

I pulled the notes that Antony had left for me out of the folder and gave the first page another quick glance. Syrian Television. I'd thought it was a joke when I first saw that on the schedule. Then Antony pointed out that we actually had a Syrian national, an eleven year old boy, enrolled in the art program and then it made more sense.

I read a bit about the boy and memorized his application and as much personal information about his talent as I could. I didn't speak Arabic and Antony assured me that the interview was to be conducted in English, if very fractured English.

My intercom buzzed. "Hi Big Mr Boss Man," Flick's sing song voice floated out of the little machine. "You ready for the first interview?"

I chuckled at the new name I'd been bestowed and told her that I was more than ready. I answered the call with as clear a voice as I could and got down to business.

**BPOV**

"We have four classrooms dedicated to photography and they each have their own darkrooms attached," I told the small group of journalists following me through my building. "There are two digital studios as well and those are situated right below us on the ground floor. We'll be teaching all the popular forms of editing and featuring the new Picnik software that's now owned by Google."

I led them through the classroom and waited while each of them got a look at the darkrooms. I introduced them to my staff and then took them back downstairs so they could continue their tours with the other heads of departments in the General Curriculum centre.

I did a little fist bump for myself and headed over to the main building as soon as the group of humans had made their way along the corridor. I tried not to skip on the way and waited until I'd passed Flick before breaking into a sprint up the stairs.

Miz Collins was where she always was and actually put a hand up to stop me approaching Edward's door.

"He's on a very important call," she said with a barely concealed smirk.

I didn't want to take the bait but god it was hard. Everything about her made me territorial and everything she said made me want to slap her. Even Lauren and Jessica hadn't brought out this much bitch in me.

Thankfully the scent of her blood made me want to gag rather than drink. It was the same with jess and Lauren. I didn't want any part of those bitches inside me either.

Briefly I thought about putting her in her place then decided against it. "I'll wait," I said as sweetly as I could and took a seat in one of the plush chairs off to the side of the outer office.

I could hear Edward on his call of course, so while I flicked idly through a magazine I listened as he gave his interview with what was obviously a German journalist. His German was flawless, like everything else about him, and that made me think about Dieter and Flick.

I had no idea how Edward was likely to react to the gossip I had for him. He never truly reacted the way I thought he was going to and could only hope that the whole thing didn't end in tears. Not that Dieter could cry.

I heard Edward wrap up his interview and then his soft whisper telling me he knew I was there. Of course Linda wouldn't hear it but I was ready when he came out of his office and straight to me.

He kissed my temple and tugged my hand so that it was in his and began leading us back into his office. He stopped beside Linda's desk and bent at the waist a little to hover over her.

"Never make my wife wait Miz Collins, ever. There is nothing too private that Isabella cannot join me in my office for, are we clear?" he asked firmly.

She turned her eyes to meet his and I could see the sparkling of tears as she nodded furiously.

Edward said nothing else, just pulled me along with him and into the office. He kissed me hard as we leaned once again up against the closed door, then he drew me towards the chair opposite his desk.

"How did your part of the tour go?" he asked.

"Easy," I answered. "Was that your last phone interview?" I asked, nodding to the phone.

"One to go," he grimaced. He lifted the sheet of paper that was in front of him and read from it. "TVR International. I'm not sure about this one but Carlisle asked me to do it even though we don't have any students here from this country." His frown told me there was more to the story so I asked for it. "TVR, Television Romania," he mumbled.

"Wow," I said stupidly. "Why do you think Carlisle..." I trailed off.

"Publicity," he mumbled. He threw the page back onto the desk and sat back in his chair. "He thinks that if the school, me, us, appears on Romanian television those remaining will see that we're good people."

"Makes sense."

"It does. Hope it works."

"Should I be worried about something?" I hedged but he was already shaking his head.

"No, not about that anyway. Sorry she was rude to you again," he nodded towards the door.

"I don't care, I told you I don't care," I giggled. "Besides, at the end of the day you'll be going home with me and she'll be going home to her cats."

"Singular," he laughed. "It's just one cat for now." He did laugh but before he'd finished his expression changed. He leaned over the desk a little and stared at me for half a second before speaking. "Tell me about Felicity."

I grinned. "You know already?" Edward loves gossip just like I do, but he thinks it's beneath him. He shook his head and told me that he just knew that Flick had been thinking a lot about our friend recently and he'd put two and two together for himself. "There's not much to tell yet," I tell him honestly. "All I know is that after your last council meeting he hung around and they talked. Then after the wedding, while we went off to the cabin, he came here to see her again. She's worried about what we'll think."

"Does she know?" he asked and I immediately understood what he meant and shook my head.

"No, I don't think so. She said he's like us, you and me, but she didn't say what that was exactly."

He nodded in understanding and steepled his hands the way Carlisle often did. "Do you think it'll be okay once she knows for sure?"

I smiled then. I reached across the desk and took his fingers with mine. "I was human once too, remember? You told me and I was fine. If she wants him half as much as I wanted you she'll be fine."

"But you wanted to be changed and he's not, well, like us," he raised his eyebrows at me.

"No, he's not," I telling me what he was and that he was a vegetarian vampire was different to Dieter telling Flick what he was and that he fed off human blood. "But look at Randall, and Aro, we never expected either of them to change lifestyles either. All it takes is the right reasoning and the right motivation."

He kissed my wedding rings and sat back in his chair again. "That phone is going to ring in one minute, sorry. Go back to work Mrs Cullen, you're far too distracting."

**EPOV**

The rest of my day continued along the same vein. Flick was kept busy fielding calls and Linda was kept busy doing my bidding.

Antony was still dealing with press enquiries even though the tour was long over and only the staff remained on the premises.

We had another brief staff meeting at four before I was going to tell the teachers to go home and enjoy their last night of peace with their families before the real work started the next day. I was surprised and deeply humbled when the music master Donovan produced a cake and a crate of champagne and I was toasted by all the staff.

They didn't stay long; eager to get home to their families, but it was a nice celebration of the opening day going so well. I had more work to do before I could leave but Bella was heading off with Em as they both had to collect the children. Alice and Jasper offered to stay behind and help me with the rest but I waved them off and told them I'd see them at the big house after Nessa had had her dinner.

I went over every one of the one hundred and sixty applications we'd accepted and tried to figure out, from looks alone, who that mental voice might have belonged to. I had no chance. Nothing in the files gave me even the merest hint and nothing in the pictures of the children told me anything more than their hair and eye colour. There was no way to tell who it had been.

At five I got the call I'd been waiting for for days. David Piper.

"Mr Cullen," he said unenthusiastically when the call connected. "You wished to speak with me I believe?"

"Mr Piper, thank you for calling," I began.

I knew enough about this guy to know that this was going to be a hard sell. Okay, hard-ish.

"What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to meet, I'd like you to represent my organisation," I hedged.

"I'm not taking new clients. I'll give you the name and number of an associate of mine who is, please hold." He didn't wait for me to protest and I was soon treated to the worst kind of elevator music. "His name is Elonza Sarati and you can reach him at Sarati and Associates, do you need the number?"

"Mr Piper, let's cut to the chase shall we?" I said firmly. "I know who and what you are and I require _your _services specifically, not those of your associates."

There was a brief silence. "I know who and what you are also Mr Cullen but I fail to see how I can possibly be of any assistance to you. I'm sure you're quite capable of handling your own legal matters."

"Usually I am," I said evenly. I'd had no doubt that he'd checked me out as thoroughly as I'd checked on him. "However, a group of us have recently begun a new venture and we require the services of someone specifically skilled in the types of transactions we need to have performed in order for our venture to go forward. That's where you come in."

He sighed quite heavily and I wondered how closely tied he was to other vampires. Did he know about the council? Did he know others I had, as yet, not come across?

"I can't imagine that a new school would need the, ah, specific services that I can offer."

He thought this was about the school? I suppressed my chuckled and ploughed on. I'd let out just enough to ensure he'd either visit in person or allow me to go to him. "This has nothing to do with the school Mr Piper. Let me just say that there is a group of likeminded adults that have been, shall we say chosen, yes, a group that has been chosen to represent the bigger body of likeminded adults and we're keen to make purchases on behalf of that group. Those purchases require a lawyer, a good one, a discreet one who doesn't mind representing a less than orthodox group such as ours."

I hoped I'd been vague enough and had still managed to convey my point.

"You're unionising?" he asked, shocked. "How can that be? We've never organised before. That's dangerous. Don't document anything. I'll meet with you. Say when and where, but don't do anything until we do," he shouted.

I did chuckle then. "I can assure you Mr Piper that we have been very discreet. Please don't mistake our need for your assistance as us being naive in this. How are you situated? Can you travel freely?" I asked.

"I can. I will come to you. I know where you are, say when," he rushed.

"Whenever you are ready is fine with me. If you know where I am then come, you'll be more than welcome, we are a large, um, group here and have the means to host you," I said vaguely. He'd get the message. He'd be safe here, amongst our coven.

"I'm leaving now. Don't document _anything,_" he hissed and disconnected our call.

I replaced the receiver at my end and smiled to myself. If my assumptions about him were correct he'd be here within twenty four hours.

I went back to the last of my paperwork with the grin firmly plastered on my face. It had been far easier than I'd first imagined, considering he'd been dodging my calls for two months already. I was packing up to leave and had just shoved the last of my files into the cabinet when I picked up the faint hint of a mental voice to the south of the building. I had no idea if it was the same one I'd heard on the island but didn't recognise it as anyone else' that I'd know either.

"_This place is sweet," _I heard as clear as day as I quickly closed up the office.

I flew down the stairs and out into the twilight and towards where I knew it had come from but there was nothing and nobody there. The voice had vanished again. Not a trace. No scent other than the lingering scent of the janitor who'd been giving the carpets in the soundproof music rooms a last going over.

I had my cell phone already in my hand when Alice' call came through.

"I still don't know Ally," I told her as I scanned the area near the woods again.

"I saw you running out there and figured you'd heard it again," she told me.

"But you don't see anything, right?" I asked.

"Nope, just you running."

"I'll do another sweep and then I'll be back. I'll call you if I find anything."

I did three complete laps of the grounds and even ran up both sides of the street at the entrance but there was nothing. Nothing that shouldn't have logically been there anyway.

I ran past the buildings again and headed home. I went a little slower than I normally would and hoped to see or hear something of significance again, but I did not. Just a deer that had strayed from its herd and stood between two trees, its ears back and its nostrils flared as I cruised past.

I didn't manage to get Alice on her own during the night and I couldn't sneak out to call her either, so I sat on the lack of information I had.

All night she bombarded me with mental questions to which I could only nod or smile sneakily now and then. It wasn't enough for her, or for me, but for now it was all I could offer.

In the end, when it was time to take Nessa and Seth home for bed she told me via her thoughts that she'd find me during the next day and we'd talk then.

I had to be content with that and so did she.

The next morning was chaotic in our little cottage.

It was hard to tell who was more nervous, Bella or Nessa. Perhaps Seth, though his anxiety was different to the excitement the girls both had for the first day of classes.

Nessa was anxious but incredibly eager to begin. She hardly shielded at all during her breakfast and I was treated to the full extent of her excitement as she ate.

Bella was nervous but also enthusiastic to finally begin teaching. She flitted around the house collecting our things and packing Nessa's bag for her big day while Seth grumbled and muttered his way through his own breakfast.

Nobody – meaning Bella or Nessa - had mentioned him joining us as yet even though I'd broached the subject with both Harry and Sue and they both said they trusted our judgement and would leave the decision to Seth himself.

At almost seventeen he was considered a man at the Rez and had been considered an adult among his pack for years already. He still wasn't Sam's Beta but he was close. Paul would likely step aside and Seth would assume the position permanently once he'd graduated at the end of this school year. He was more than ready for the responsibility but everyone wanted him to concentrate on school while he could.

I knew from his thoughts that he wanted to join us very badly and it wasn't wholly about being close to Nessa during the day either. He knew that graduating from what we hoped was to be a prestigious facility would aide him when he began to fill out his college applications later on.

Before he finished his meal I decided it was time to discuss it. I'd left it this late on purpose, wanting to delve into his thoughts for as long as I could before I broached it with him personally. I had to know that it was about education, or enough about education anyway, and not just about his bond with Renesmee. It wasn't.

"Rose has almost finished the restoration on the truck," I lead with, watching his eyes light up at the mention of having his own vehicle.

"Oh yeah? Awesome. I just have to get a job to pay her for it," he laughed and used his thumb to point at a now frantic Bella who was throwing a large stack of paperwork haphazardly into her satchel.

"I've talked to your parents about that," I said as he stood to put his plate in the sink. "They didn't think it was such a good idea, you having a part time job, not now anyway. With all your study and the type of grades you're going to need to make to get into medicine having a part time job in your senior year won't leave you much time to study."

"Oh, right," he said, shoulders slumping as he assumed that the deal with the truck was off now.

"But I disagreed," I chuckled. "But I agree that your time is going to be limited if you want to get into Med School so I think I've come up with a compromise."

He came back to the table then and sat back down in his seat. His thoughts were getting excited now. "Wanna share?" he laughed.

"Sure. You can say no, of course, but I figured we could help each other out on this. You need money to buy the truck and I need a lab assistant at the school. After hours of course. You interested?"

He was already nodding. "Sure. But I don't know anything about labs."

"You'll learn. It will give you a head start on the lab work you're going to need to do your first year at med school and Donna, that's my Science Master, she needs someone to help her set up the lab after classes."

"I can do that. I can't get there till after my classes are finished though, is that okay?" he asked, already worried that he'd have to make the trek from Forks High to Port Angeles daily and how he was going to manage that with spending time with the pack and Nessa.

"Hmmm, that is a problem," I lied. "How long would it take you to drive from your school to mine every afternoon?"

He thought on it a moment. "About half an hour, I guess."

Nessa came running from the direction of the bathroom and tapped her temple as she came to a stop in front of me. I smiled and tapped mine to let her know I was listening.

'_If Sethy went to your school he could just stay and do his work when classes were over,'_ she thought excitedly.

I nodded at her as seriously as I could manage then turned back to Seth. "Nessa has found the solution," I chuckled, playing along and letting them think they'd solved it for themselves. "If you transferred to our school for your senior year you'd be on hand to do the lab job and you would still have time to spend with everyone else."

His face lit up and I caught Bella's eye over his shoulder. She mouthed 'I love you' and returned to stuffing her satchel.

"Can he please, daddy?" Nessa shouted in her sing song voice.

"If he wants to," I eyed him carefully.

"I want to," he said firmly.

"Then that's settled," I said as I pushed my chair back and took Nessa with me to my feet. I kissed her on the cheek and asked her to go collect her backpack.

"That's it?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, that's it. If you want to come I'd be proud to have you there."

"Why didn't you ask me before?" he pouted.

I shrugged. "Nobody had mentioned it so I didn't want to force the idea onto you. But your parents were keen and Sam said it was up to you, so I gave you the choice."

"Cool," he mumbled and got to his feet. He held his fist out for me and I bumped it eagerly. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," I told him truthfully and went to the study to collect my own satchel.

**Romania**

Ana did allow Eleazar to enter her chamber but apart from that one small concession she remained silent.

Eleazar did his best to engage her, to break her free of the savage melancholy she wore as if it were a cloak, but after two solid hours of his begging he had to admit that he was spent. Defeat did not sit well with Eleazar.

At least with the Cullen's Eleazar was able to put forward his argument and get some response. Over the last few years that response had admittedly been violent, but at least it was a response at all. With Ana it was as though she was dead inside, truly dead. She showed no emotion and made no effort to even acknowledge even his presence in the room.

Eleazar left her with a heavy heart. Again he wished he could ask Carlisle or Edward for their advice but with regard to this he felt as though he should be able to ease his sister in laws suffering on his own. That he wasn't able to, even the slightest, weighed heavily on him.

Dom was in the throws of the last of his change and had, thankfully, begun to smell like a vampire. He still screamed though with less ferocity.

He was in complete seclusion in a hardly used part of the castle and whilst his screams were ear piercing to the vampires in attendance they hardly registered with the human workers. Daria never left his side, even when he begged her to go.

Raul checked in with him often and had made the necessary preparations to get him out into the forest to hunt and away from the humans as quickly as possible once he arose. Daria would hunt with him and Raul and Eleazar would be nearby, on hand should anything happen.

Dom was determined to stick to the plan and even though he writhed in agony as Eleazar's venom did its deadly work his mindset remained clear. He would never take a human life.

Having never felt or understood personally what newborn thirst felt like Daria wasn't sure she was the right person to run with him for his first hunt, but Eleazar had been adamant. If anyone could force Dom off the scent of a human it would be his mate. He knew this from experience with Edward and Bella and more recently with Randall and Katie.

When Dom's change was almost complete Eleazar went to Ana and begged her to be present when the newest member of their family arose but she would not be swayed. She would stay in her chambers and would not attend. No pleading from Eleazar could make her change her mind and so it was with a heavy heart that he made his way back to Dom's temporary accommodations to await the final putsch as his venom consumed the last of Dom's mortal blood.

A mighty scream rent the air as his heart beat its last and then it was done.

He was reborn a vampire.

He sprang from the bed and scanned the room. His eyes darted left to right as he took in the fascinating new colours and sights around him. At every noise, however slight, he tilted his head this way and that seemingly hearing for the first time. His tongue massaged his palate as the new flavours of his surroundings made their way into his system.

His eyes landed on Daria and she smiled softly towards her husband.

"Dom?" she asked cautiously.

"My love," he whispered then shook his head. His voice sounded odd, even to himself. More fluid, deeper.

"How do you feel?" Eleazar asked.

"Glad to be free of the burning," Dom mumbled as he looked at the now flawless skin on his forearms.

"You'll never feel pain again," Daria soothed as best she could from across the room.

Dom placed the palm of his hand to the base of his throat and new that the burning pain had been replaced by the dry, itchy pain in his throat.

"You'll learn to live with it," Raul offered as he took a hesitant step closer to his new brother in law. "You should hunt now, it will ease," he assured Dom.

"You'll stay close?" Dom asked, conscious of the danger he now posed to the humans in the castle.

"We'll be there," Raul agreed.

Full flight for a newborn was exhilarating and for Dom it was made doubly exciting because his new wife ran at his flank.

As a mortal he'd been quick and strong but now, as a fledgling he was unstoppable and he relished the quick reflexes and bursts of speed he could accomplish seemingly effortlessly.

They ran deep into the forest that surrounded the castle and Dom was quick to pounce on the unsuspecting deer as it stood to graze. Daria took heed of her uncle's warning to remain vigilant and to keep herself far enough away from the newborn to not seem to pose a threat to his kill.

Dom, like Bella, had quickly understood and come to terms with what he now was. This had been his choice, as it had been hers, and he quickly embraced his new form. He was every bit as lethal as Raul but more elegant and graceful as he took sustenance from deer after deer to quench his first burning thirst.

Eleazar and Raul slipped away when it became clear that Dom was in good control of himself and left the newlyweds to celebrate their dream coming true.

The forest was rent with the sounds of their passion before uncle or nephew had taken a dozen hasty steps back in the direction of the castle.

As they ran Raul began to speak of his plans to rebuild the guard. Eleazar nodded and agreed that it should be done but the heavy, resigned feeling he felt deep in his chest did not leave him. Not even when he finally connected with Edward via the telephone later that same day.

**EPOV**

"It's as we expected Eleazar, I don't know what you want me to say," I told the now rambling moron on the other end of my office telephone.

"I want you to tell me what to do!" he raged.

I couldn't help but chuckle wryly. "Surely it doesn't escape you, irony of that statement?"

"Not at all. If I'd asked your advice this time three years ago everything would be different. I know and understand that and that's why I'm calling now. My nephew has asked me here to teach him how to pass on this horrible gift," he sighed.

"Without being there in person I cannot offer any insight into his intentions, as you well know, but do you suspect his intentions are anything other than what he says they are?" I asked.

"I don't know. I can't know anything other than what he's told me himself. He wishes to repopulate the decimated guard and I can see no reason to deny him that. The family deserves protection and being only four, and in the situation they find themselves, I cannot deny that is a good idea."

"I agree. But you say four? The girl, she is a hybrid isn't she?" I asked, confused. I knew of Ana, Raul and Daria, but that made three, if you counted the girl into the equation.

He sighed again and I braced myself for the rest of his tale, for I knew there was one. "Daria has taken a mate and I've changed him, at their request."

I blew my held breath out over my lips as quietly as I could. "I see."

"How could I not? Your mate asked the same from your sire and he did as he was bid. It is nothing more than I have done. Dominique has been loyal to this family for twenty years as were his father and grandfather before him. I have faith in him."

"Again, I agree. It is no more than was asked of Carlisle. All I can advise is that you listen and watch carefully. If you trust him, and he is now married to your niece, then he is your family and as head of your family you are responsible for what he does from here on in. I appreciate that you've brought this to my attention and I trust that you'll inform us if anything in Raul's intentions change. I'll alert the rest of the council to the goings on there with you, but for now you should wait and watch."

There was silence on the end of the receiver for a good few seconds as Eleazar thought over what I'd said. When he did speak his voice was lower, more reverent. "That is very generous of you."

"I do not wish to take on the role vacated by your brothers, Eleazar. Wielding power over others is not something I've ever aspired to, as you know. The council was not formed with that intention and I intend to make sure that nobody within it thinks it can be used as such. Each of us, as we are, are capable of giving this gift, Raul is no different. If he takes a mate that is his right. If he replaces his lost guard that too is his right. Nobody would take issue with that. Including me, I assure you. After that, if it becomes clear that he is using the knowledge you're about to impart to do anything other than that we'll deal with it as it happens. But I won't stand in judgement of another. Not as a man, not as a vampire and not as head of the council. Is that what you're asking? Whether or not I'll allow them this?"

"It is, yes. I only ask that I be given a chance to make right any mistakes he makes with his new knowledge. I don't want them slaughtered."

"You have my word but know this Eleazar, I can only speak for myself. There are others who were present in the clearing that day that may not be so tolerant. You should prepare for that."

He sighed again. "I will make him aware of that before I assist. Thank you Edward, you have been more than understanding."

"I appreciate you being so candid, Eleazar. I wish you and your family well," I told him and prepared to end the call.

"I will be leaving in a few days. I'd like your permission to come straight to Forks?"

"I think that's best, yes. We'll see you in a few days."

The call was disconnected and I wasted no time before dialling Carlisle. I apprised him of the details of my call with Eleazar. We agreed to split the remaining calls that needed making in half and then set about contacting the other members of the council. All were in agreeance except for one sole dissenter. Peter.

While Peter agreed that we could do nothing until Raul proved to be creating vampires for anything other than good intentions he was loathe to allow Eleazar free reign with what remained of the Romanian's.

The other council members were happy to defer to the judgement of the majority. Despite half an hour on a conference call with them all, with the exception of Eleazar himself, it was agreed that we too would listen and wait. Peter agreed to disagree but would do nothing until it was proved that something was amiss.

For now it would have to do.

By mid morning the school was abuzz. One hundred and sixty students had arrived, accompanied by either one or both parents, and coupled with all the staff the place was packed to the gills.

A morning tea had been set out on long tables in the student restaurant and an informal greeting made by myself and the heads of departments.

Being amongst so many new mental voices was a challenge for me and the audible noise inside the cafe was horrendous, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Every student was eager to begin lessons and each parent was proud and excited for their child.

Jasper was having a wonderful time soaking up the combination of emotions and wore an incredibly wide smile all morning.

Alice was barely containable and Emmett was raring to go. Bella was nervous but excited. Seth was just as eager to get going despite only having found out a few hours ago that he was enrolled here.

Nessa was excited but sad to be attending as a Masen and not a Cullen. She stuck close by Seth all morning – for safety's sake she had to attend on her own today, no 'parent' or 'guardian' could come with her lest the connection between us be discovered – so she was the one forlorn child amongst the rest.

Timetables were handed out as well as maps of the facility and information sheets for parents. When it was time to split into homeroom groups Nessa had to leave Seth's side but was soon joined by another little girl as they split into smaller groups.

I'd purposely put Nessa into Bella's home group so she'd be less uncomfortable and could see and hear her already nattering pleasantly with the other girl as they moved towards Bella.

My Bella.

So beautiful. I watched her for a few seconds as she gathered the group who she'd be teacher, mother and confidante to for the coming year and marvelled at her. She was made for this. This life. This school. These children.

"She's in her element boss," Felicity nudged me in the shoulder, bringing me back to the present.

I couldn't help but smile. "She is," I agreed. "Is there somewhere I need to be?" I asked, nodding to the clipboard in her hands.

"You have half an hour or so before your first class begins and I have some things for you to look over."

"Lead the way," I chuckled and gave my wife and daughter one last indulgent look before heading to my office.

My first ever class was incredible.

I didn't play a single note and yet I felt just as good as if I had played for the whole hour. The children in my small group were keen and enthusiastic as I outlined their course and what was expected of them. They listened intently and their thoughts stayed on track throughout, mostly. They were, after all, children. They were open to distraction and had short attention spans compared to adults and vampires, but of the seven of them there wasn't one that I regretted accepting.

They ranged from the youngest, who was just nine years old, right up to a senior of eighteen. Their abilities were also widely ranged but the one thing they all had in common was their love for the piano. Two of the seven were also competent on other instruments, and they were taking extended music courses that would allow them to develop in those areas too, but for the most part all seven were here specifically for piano.

I walked them through the practise rooms, the classroom we'd be using and then on into the recording suite. Their excitement was addictive as they began to chatter about being able to listen to their work anytime they wanted to. Just before the class was to end I took them to the auditorium and showed them my beloved piano. They gasped suitably and all agreed that they couldn't wait for a turn on her at some point.

I made it very clear that only the very best behaved students would ever get to touch her. I didn't say it to foster a competitive air about the course but wanted them to know that while the piano's in the classrooms were beautiful, this one was outstanding and in a class of its own.

I explained that we'd be holding a recital at the end of second term and that they'd all get a chance to use her and get to know her, and that they should treat her with the utmost respect. Being long time students of piano themselves they each had an appreciation for her and I could tell they were going to be in awe of her as much as I was.

I was going to thoroughly enjoy my first plunge into teaching.

When my class went out for lunch at the end of the lesson I went back to my office to assume my headmaster role. There wasn't much for me to actually do on that front. I had a good group who managed their departments impeccably so I was free to continue working on the questionnaires that I'd been sent from the press that couldn't travel to this remote location for the opening yesterday. They were pretty standard.

My intercom buzzed and I lazily answered it.

"Mr David Piper has arrived for your meeting," Felicity said on the other end. She seemed concerned so I ranged my hearing and tried to pinpoint her thoughts in amongst the hundreds in the area.

'_He's like them, he's like them, he's like them,'_ she was thinking in the split second it took me to tell her to show him upstairs. _'Don't be afraid, the boss will protect me, don't be afraid,'_ she chanted as she ushered my guest up the stairs to deposit him in front of Linda.

"It's nice to meet you Mr Piper," Linda was saying as Felicity hurried back down the stairs and back to the 'safety' of her own office. Linda was a little less wary, but being the type of self centred person she was she usually gave very little thought to anyone other than herself and shook off her initial fear as being nerves in front of such a handsome man.

I was intrigued. Was David Piper more frightening than me? Was he more frightening to humans than the others that Felicity had come into contact with recently?

When Linda buzzed to announce his presence I asked her to please show him to the conference room and make him comfortable while I made a couple of quick calls. Of course he'd hear the calls, but no matter.

"What's up boss?" Felicity answered on the first ring.

"You are quite safe, I promise, do you understand?" I asked cryptically.

She blew out a breath, "Yeah, thanks boss."

"Isabella will be waiting for you in her office, go now," I told her and hoped she'd just go, not question me. She didn't, thankfully, and said she'd go right now.

I dialled Bella's office, knowing she was in it because I could see her beautiful face through the window that faced my office.

"Hello gorgeous," she answered with a giggle.

"Hello beautiful. Felicity is on her way to you, she's had a fright," I told her.

"Understood," Bella answered confidently.

I told her I loved her and disconnected the very brief, very vague call. We'd talked about this. Anyone, no matter who, that got a fright from any one of us was to be ushered towards Bella. She was the 'most human' of us all. Nobody feared her as a vampire. Her scent was as mine was. Her speed, strength and ruthlessness on the hunt was as well defined as any of us, but she oozed an aura of calm safety that humans felt at ease around. They didn't flock to her by any means, but they'd much rather stand beside her than any of us if given a choice. And so it was to her that I sent Felicity.

I strode into the conference room and got my first look at David Piper.

**BPOV**

Flick didn't look any different but she stumbled as she came into my office. I pointed to the chair just off to my left and as she sat in it I closed the file on my desk and scooted the wheeled chair closer to her.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She nodded but didn't speak. "Can you tell me about it?"

Her eyes were wide when they finally found mine. A tear leaked out of the corner of her left eye and I longed to wipe it away for her. She was important to me, a friend, a human friend whom a vampire had just frightened and I wanted to comfort her. But I knew, instinctually, not to touch her right now.

"He's, he's, like you, right?" she threw her head towards the main building.

"He is, but we would never bring anyone here who'd hurt you, you know that, don't you?" I assumed she meant David Piper. Edward had told me what he could about him though I'd never met him for myself.

She nodded but didn't look convinced. "He just didn't look friendly, you know? He looked pissed off actually. You guys, the Cullen's I mean, you're all so friendly. I was scared of you at first, but not now. I guess I...I don't know...I guess it was stupid to think that others would be friendly like you."

I smiled then. She might not know exactly what we were but she understood so much already. I'd had to learn the same lessons. Just because the Cullen's were 'friendly' vampires that didn't mean all vampires I met were. I knew that first hand, many times over.

I threw caution to the wind and put my arm around her shoulders. She didn't flinch, to her credit. "You know that if you ask Dieter he'll tell you, right?"

She nodded. "He said as much. But at the time I didn't want to know. Is that dumb? I mean, I don't really know him all that well and he was willing to just put this huge secret out there for me and I got scared. I know he's not, well, you know, like me...but..." she winced.

"But you aren't ready to know what he is exactly either. I get it, I really do. And it's not dumb. You want the fairytale you've got in your head. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, happily ever after. I get that," I giggled. I'd wanted that once too. "You're a smart girl and it's not stupid to want to live in the dark. We'd never hurt you, you've become a friend, not just an employee. I promise you, we'd never put you in any situation where you could get hurt."

"Okay," she mumbled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Can I ask you something, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Anything, you can ask me anything."

"Were you, like you are now when you met the boss?" she asked cautiously.

I shook my head. "No, I wasn't. I was like you when I met him. He's very old Flick, much much older than me but not as old as Dieter. I felt just like you do right now I'll bet. Scared, unsure if I wanted to know, but in the end if I wanted the boss I had to know. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. She turned to me then and looked me in the eye. "Dieter is much older than the boss?" she asked and I nodded. "Mrs Cullen, she's much older than she looks too?" Again I nodded, assuming she meant Esme but really the question could apply to all the Mrs Cullen's out there, except for me. "How old are you?"

I giggled then, couldn't help it. "Ahh well, I'm almost exactly as I seem. I'm twenty one, like you."

"Huh," she huffed. "The boss?"

I wondered how smart it was to tell the truth but figured that she knew enough already, a little bit more wouldn't hurt. Besides, according to Edward Dieter intended to have her as his mate, human or not, so she'd know soon anyway. If she wanted Dieter too, of course.

"1901," is the answer I gave. She could make of that what she wanted to.

She gasped. "But, but that makes him...but...oh my god...and Dieter, he's older than that?"

"Much," I agreed.

"Damn," she laughed. "What the fuck have I gotten myself into?" she asked nobody in particular.

I patted her shoulder. "Nothing if you don't want any part of it. I promise. The bottom line is you're safe here, always. And if you decide that Dieter is who you want then you'll be safe with him always too. That's how it works. They're kind of possessive like that," I laughed.

"No shit," she laughed too.

After that she went back to her office and I went to my next class. I wasn't sure what she was thinking but sent Edward a quick text just in case he'd been too busy with the lawyer to catch enough of our conversation. His reply was brief but typical Edward.

~You are fucking perfect. This guy is a condescending ass but I'll keep him in check. After all, I'm a big scary...fill in the blank E xx~

I laughed all the way to my classroom.

**Riley POV**

I was going to love it here!

Everything was new and clean and perfect. There was no chipped paint, no tenth-hand lockers and I was going to find it easy to hide what I really was here. Nobody knew me. I could just be Riley.

Mom and Dad were going to love it here too, for me. When we'd first heard about this place they'd been sceptical but I'd won them over with the information that it was run by other supernatural beings.

Of course, once they'd worked out that by supernatural beings I meant vampires they went ballistic, but they got over it eventually. They worried for me, all the time, and I guess I'd given them plenty of reason to in the past so I sucked it up and did my best to ease their minds.

I'd never been an easy kid. I'd rebelled against what I was for years. I'd caused trouble at every school and club I'd ever attended but this time was going to be different. Here I could be what and who I really was. They'd understand, these Cullen's. If I got in any trouble, which I'd do my best not to, they'd understand.

I'd scoped the place out just yesterday – alerting Edward Cullen to my presence in the process somehow– but had gotten away clean by changing into a doe just in the nick of time. It was a stupid thing to do, seeing as his kind hunted deer in the area, but when pressed for time it was the nearest thing to me.

Having to have an actual physical 'blueprint' of what I wanted to shift into could sometimes be a problem, but when you're being pursued by a very inquisitive vampire you take opportunities where they present themselves, so a doe it was.

He stared at me long and hard too once I'd changed form. For a split second I wondered if I'd blown it, but no. He stared, looked around a bit and then ran on his way.

He'd never be able to track my scent because it just stopped dead wherever I was when I shifted, but I could tell he knew something was amiss in the forest.

He didn't look twice at me today though so I felt pretty sure he didn't match my scent to my physical human form, but I would be more careful than ever to keep that side of myself as hidden as possible here.

My homeroom teacher was the biggest vampire I'd ever seen – possibly one of the biggest humans I'd ever seen either - and he was the funniest guy I'd ever come across too. I was enrolled to finish my ordinary high school diploma and to begin my trade in metal engineering. He was the head of the department as well as my homeroom teacher, assigned mentor and my teacher for welding. I was pleased that I actually liked him seeing as we were likely to be spending a heap of time together every day.

His grin was contagious and I found myself smiling all day long today. We didn't do any actual work but it was still interesting and fun. He showed us the workshops and where we could find and store all our safety equipment then he led us on a merry chase through the school. It was kind of a treasure hunt without the treasure. He handed us all maps and a list of 'things' to find and we had to move around the school as a group and write down the map coordinates on the list when we found each thing.

It was a bit childish but it was also heaps of fun and it served its purpose well. We got to know each other, work as a team and learnt to navigate the various areas of the school. It was clever without being condescending and I liked the idea, and him, a lot.

I knew he was a Cullen but where he fit in the vampire family was still a mystery to me.

**EPOV**

"Your staff are human?" Mr Piper asked the instant I stepped into the conference room.

I moved towards him and held out my hand. He shook it eagerly and without a trace of hesitation. "Mostly, yes," I grinned.

"Mostly?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "Ahh, the wife, I see."

I didn't like his tone, or the way he prefixed Bella's title with 'the' but let it go, for now. He'd learn soon enough that I wasn't an idiot and I wasn't to be messed with.

"Isabella, my wife yes, among others," I told him, trying to rein in my temper.

He made no verbal comment but his mind was reeling. The use of the word 'others' both intrigued and bothered him in equal measure. Intrigued because he'd never been privy to a coven that worked alongside humans before and bothered because he was concerned for our 'secret' and the probability that such a venture as this school, and what he saw as the organisation of vampires as a group, as a foolish enterprise.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he muttered as I took the seat opposite him and put a large file in front of me on the conference table.

"How would you prefer to do this? I'm sure you have questions?" I asked, eager to get the formalities and posturing over with. It was always the same. A vampire meets another vampire for the first time and they try to gauge each other's weaknesses to gain an upper hand. Even vampires I'd now known for a century did it when I first met them and I'd done it a hundred times myself since.

He eyed me carefully then leaned back in his chair in a very practised, very human way. "Why organise?" he asked straight up.

I too leaned back. "We toppled the Romanian's three years ago," I said, seemingly out of the blue. "We don't want to be ruled, we want to govern ourselves and make it easier for us to travel, work, and make money," I told him honestly. "And some of us have had the opportunity to breed, so we need to make sure our progeny are well taken care of in any event."

"I'm aware of what happened here and who had a hand in it, what I want to know is why?" he asked.

His thoughts told me he was sincere. He did indeed know that 'we' as a collective group had murdered both Stefan and Vladimir and their guard and he was truthful when he said he didn't know why.

"I have a daughter, a hybrid. She's bonded for want of a better word to a shifter of a local tribe. Stefan's pathological aversion to all things wolf gave him the impression we had over stepped some unwritten boundary. They came, we fought, and we won."

He wasn't at all shocked to hear that I had a daughter and he confirmed with his next sentence that he knew a lot about me, about all of us.

"Ah, yes, the lovely Renesmee. The way it was told to me, and please forgive me as it was told third hand, is that you lead an army and slaughtered all comers. Impressive but dangerous. You've put your head above the bunker Mr Cullen. You're fair game."

I assumed just that myself at the time but wasn't worried. Anyone who stood with us in that clearing had my back. I was as sure of it as I was that the sun would rise tomorrow morning. "That may be indeed so, only time will tell, but I'd do it all again," I told him firmly, to which he nodded and silently agreed. "The idea of forming a council was put to me after the war by a few of the main players. They had most of it fleshed out before I even became aware of it. There was a vote, a secret ballot of sorts, and I was the unlucky sod who drew the short straw. I am the chairman, if you will, of this council and will remain so for the next decade."

He smirked then. "Does this council have a manifesto?" he chuckled.

"Of sorts," I drawled and pushed the file across the desk towards him. He raised his eyebrows and opened it.

While he read I spoke. I told him as much as I could about what we were trying to achieve and also about our ideas on how to make it all happen. His thoughts gave nothing away as he read, so consumed was he with what he had in front of him. Essentially it was a dossier on every vampire I'd ever met. It must have been fascinating to him because it still was to me and I'd had it in my possession for three years already.

When he was done he closed the file and slid it back to me. "What do you want from me exactly?" he asked calmly.

"We need a lawyer, a vampire lawyer preferably, one who's willing to go the extra mile as it were," I smirked. "You are the only one I've ever heard of so you too, my friend, have drawn the short straw."

Once again he leaned back in his chair. He was less calm now, my threat had been subtle but he understood. There was no walking away now that he'd read that file. He'd walked into this with his eyes open and had made himself complicit the instant he opened the first page. And he knew it.

"I don't react well to threats Mr Cullen, you'll do well to remember that," he hissed quietly. "That said, I can see what you're trying to achieve here. I'll sort out this mess you've got with the travel documents, for a hefty fee of course, and the next time this council meets you call me and I'll attend. That's all I'm prepared to do for now."

His grin was evil but his interest had been peaked. For all his bravado he was intrigued and could see the sense in some, if not most, of what we'd done so far and planned to do in the future. There were a few parts to our plans that had him excited, some that had him worried.

I had to be satisfied with that for now.

We agreed his price for the documents and shook on it as he made to leave.

"Thank you for coming," I told him as we walked back through the offices and out into reception. "I'll be in touch."

"I'll be close. I've got business with Mr Kade," he chuckled as he left.

I was intrigued as to what business he'd have with Randall but could guess. I laughed all the way back to my office. I dialled the Denali house and gave Randall a quick heads up, but he didn't seem bothered that he'd soon be graced with the awful Mr Piper's presence.

Dodging taxes wasn't just important to the council I realised. Anyone would be eager to learn the tricks that Randall had to teach.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**Another small snippet from Riley in this chapter. He'll become more and more integral as things go along and I'm having a really great time writing him. **

**For those of you who are also True Blood fans you'll be familiar with shifters such as Riley. **

**For those of you who aren't, some key points for you.**

**a) Pure bred shifters, such as our Riley, can change into any animal form they choose as long as they have a 'blueprint' with which to work from. Meaning, the animal they want to change into has to be close enough for them to see it. **

**b) Riley can be heard via his thoughts by Edward, but only in his human form. Keeping true to what SM says about Alice' gift, she cannot see him, just as she cannot see any of the other supernatural beings like the wolves. Jasper can affect him, but only in his human form. It stands to reason then that Dieter can track him in animal form, Zuhar can control his temperature in his animal form, Imogen cannot glamour him, Holly cannot morph into him and the wolves cannot talk with him via their pack connection even if he chooses to change into a wolf. **

**c) Pure breed shifters are fast, strong and as per True Blood if they are hurt they will heal during rest. **

**d) Their human scent is as a human scent should be, but when they shift that scent ends right where they last stood as a human. When in animal form the shifter takes on the scent of the animal he's chosen to become. **

**Any questions don't hesitate to ask, I'd love to hear what you all think about the mysterious young man. **

**Please review. **


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 20 – Feel the False Serenity

**EPOV**

Media reports began to appear in newspapers and printed media all over the world in the weeks after the opening. Snippets of interviews made both at the entrance to the school and recorded afterwards also began to be played on radio stations all over the country. Most were complimentary and Antony congratulated me over and over for my stellar performances, both in front of the actual press contingent that had attended and the way I'd conducted the interviews over the phone that day. The few that made or quoted snide remarks were quickly dismissed by the others as having an overly large dose of 'tall poppy syndrome'.

My photo appeared in newspapers and magazines in some very obscure places and copies of it, and them, began to arrive from friends and acquaintances all over the world.

Jonathan sent a transcribed interview I'd done with a Murdoch newspaper in Sydney that reported that we'd taken applicants from all walks of life. It went on to describe some of the courses we offered as well as a brief overview of the Port Angeles area. He was sure that tourism in the area would be boosted significantly simply because the photographs of me and the facilities were so glamorous looking. I had to chuckle at that.

Alistair and Zafrina sent a telegram from Finland congratulating us and saying that they took particular pride in watching a translated interview that had been shown repeatedly on Finish television after the opening.

Demetri telephoned to say that my Russian intonation was appalling but most Russians were so enamoured with me and my school that I was instantly forgiven. The village where his coven resided was abuzz with the knowledge that I was known to them personally and they had gained a somewhat celebrity status since. It was all rather amusing.

Nathaniel and Angelica sent a delightful letter wishing us all the very best for the new venture. They were currently travelling through Italy and both wished they would be seeing us all again soon, particularly their friend Renesmee. By all accounts news of the school had been received well in their little corner of the globe and Felicity confirmed that an influx of applicants for next year had come directly from there.

Most joyously of all they sent us a wedding announcement. They planned to marry in Italy over the Christmas break. They knew and understood that many of us, especially those of us who would only have a few days off over the break because of the school, wouldn't be able to attend their accompanying letter thanked us all so much for introducing them all those years ago. Bella was so excited for them but Nessa was positively humming with excitement for them.

So in all the responses to the school were good. Some were sceptical, but most were positive. There were the usual assumptions and I was learning from Antony that came with the territory. Like Piper had said, I'd put my head above the bunker and I was now fair game.

I was also aware that anyone and everyone would be doing their damndest to find out something scathing about my past. They'd have a hell of a time finding anything at all let alone something that could damage the burgeoning reputation of the school.

Just like it should be as far as any records went I didn't exist before I was 'born' right when I said I was. There was a birth certificate that said I was twenty one, just like Bella. It also said I'd been born in Chicago and that, for a change, wasn't a lie. The lie was that this certificate listed my parents as Dr and Mrs Cullen, not Mr and Mrs Masen.

There were elementary school, high school and college reports and attendance records for anyone who cared to look. The only other thing that could be found about me personally was my marriage certificate to Bella, and that was real.

So whilst my family were utterly perfect and were content and my school was running smoothly and achieving exactly what I hoped it would achieve I set about doing the councils bidding.

**BPOV**

Once the initial nerves of first day of term dissipated things began to tick along nicely both at home and with the school.

Seth settled in there easily and soon made friends with quite a few of the seniors.

Ness was just as comfortable but I knew she was finding it difficult to not let on that we were her parents and that all the Cullen's that worked at the school were actually her aunts and uncles. She did well and didn't really slip up, but a few times she'd caught herself only just in the nick of time.

She'd made friends with a few little girls and one little boy, and an older boy that was in Emmett's home room. I wondered about that but she explained that he was a new friend of Seth's and that she liked him too.

Seth, for his part, did his best to give her some space and freedom but he had to work hard not to shadow her whenever the opportunity arose.

They looked for each other and made sure to sit close when there was a whole school assembly or when home rooms combined for some activity or another, but other than that they were only together on the drive to school and when they met at lunch. Seth asked Edward how to handle that and it was decided that if anyone asked he was a distant cousin of hers and felt protective of her. It was a simple explanation and to date nobody had asked.

So, so far so good.

Flick got over her fright pretty quickly, Nessa was enthused and Seth was eager to really get going in his classes.

Alice bounced out of her shoes every morning when it was time to run to work and Jasper fed off her excitement. That meant that everyone, in all three Cullen households, were carefree once again. The lone grumbling voice belonged to Angel because she couldn't attend the school yet. But her time would come.

It was addictive. The feeling of belonging once again to a bigger family unit that was happy and moving forward with their individual plans so easily.

There had been no more talk about mysterious mental voices in the forest. Not a word that I'd heard about from Eleazar's travels and as far as I knew the council was moving ahead in leaps and bounds now that David Piper was onboard.

**Renesmee POV**

Daddy's school was so much fun!

Sethy drove us to school every morning in his big shiny new truck. He told me it had been my mommy's once but now it was his. I liked that he could drive me, and it was fun to sit up big and tall in it beside him, but I liked to run to school sometimes too.

I got to be in mommy's homeroom group for a few minutes every morning and then I'd go off and be in Aunty Alice' class and sometimes Uncle Jaspers too. I didn't get to be in Uncle Emmett's classes at all, but daddy said they are mostly for boys and that they come out all stinky and covered in horrible grease and stuff, so I wasn't too worried about not being in those classes.

My Sethy was in the classroom next to me for his big boy math class, so I got to see him before we went in and again when we came out. We didn't talk to each other though and he said that was because mommy and daddy didn't want anyone to know that we belonged to each other. Sometimes Sethy even thought about mommy and daddy not knowing that we belonged to each other, but I knew that they already did. It wasn't a secret from them.

Sethy is so smart and he works really hard at his classes. He wants to make mommy and daddy proud. I read that from him even though I know I should ask before I do. But sometimes I just really want to know what he's thinking and he doesn't always give me permission, even if I cry and whine, so I look sometimes without telling him.

I try not to be a bad girl. I really do. But sometimes I like it. I like knowing what the other little girls are thinking about because they think really normal things about pretty dresses and their hair and sometimes they think about pop music and what they had for dinner the night before. I don't get to do many normal things like them. I don't feel normal like they do. Mommy says I will one day, when I'm bigger and doing more normal things, but right now I don't feel too normal.

I have some new friends at daddy's school. Duncan is ten and in my homeroom and my creative writing class and he thinks I'm pretty and very smart. Seth doesn't like him much. I don't know why because he's always very nice to me. He brings me grapes at break time because I told him once they were my favourite thing to eat ever. Seth says that's sneaky. I don't know why. I told Duncan I like them so I don't know why he thinks that's sneaky. Unless Duncan is like me and can read it from me, but I don't think he is because once I thought really hard about how I could kick Duncan on his shin and he never even turned his head to me, he just kept thinking about a show he watched on TV the night before. Sethy is sometimes very strange and the things he thinks are sometimes very strange too.

Then there is Nicole. She's eight and she's at daddy's school because she's really clever at math. _Really _clever. She stumps her teacher sometimes and we giggle about it. Mommy made sure to remind me not to let her know that I can do that math too, so I never say anything. I think she likes it that she's really clever, so I don't tell her that I am too.

Madi is eight like Nicole and she's in my daddy's music theory class and she takes cello as well as history and math with me. Daddy says she's a prodigy, whatever that is. I think it means she's as good at the cello as he is at the piano. I like the cello, it's very loud and rumbly and it makes my tummy feel giddy when she plays. She's by far the prettiest in our little group. I like her hair the best. It's all straight and a plain colour, not like mine. Mine's all wavy and red and gold. Everyone tells me it's beautiful but some days I wish I had plain hair like Madi.

Sethy has some new friends too and he is very happy when he's with them. They laugh and joke and throw a football around at lunch time. I get stuck playing with the little girls in my own group but sometimes I convince them to play on the playground nearest the sporting field so I can watch my Sethy play too. He's so strong and fast. I know he can go faster, and can throw further than he shows to the boys, but he's like me and we have to make it look like we aren't as smart or as strong as we are. I don't like that much, but I promised Sethy I would, so I do.

Sethy has a new friend that came all the way from England to go to school here. His name is Jett which I think is a funny name, even for a big boy. His mommy and daddy work for the government there and at first he was sad to be away from them, but now I think he likes it here. He looks just like my Uncle Emmett. He's big and strong and almost as pale as us. Sethy says that's because there isn't much sun in the part of England where he comes from. I think I'd like England then. Mommy and daddy could live there and we could go outside a lot more.

Jett is going to be a scientist so he's in lots of science classes and Seth met him on his very first day of work after school. Jett is billeted. Daddy says that means he lives with another student's family because his mom and dad still live in England, so Jett has a lot of free time because he doesn't have to do icky chores like I do after school. So he helps Sethy with his work and I like that because it means Sethy comes home even earlier from school than he should.

Jett lives with Josh's family. That's another big boy from Uncle Emmett's classes. Sethy says Josh wants to be a soldier and likes guns and strategies. If the Romninians ever come back he would be able to help daddy and uncle Jasper and uncle Peter plan a big fight again. Uncle Emmett says that Josh wants to learn how to work with metal so he can design better guns. It sounds interesting but when I asked daddy if I could do that class he said 'definitely not' and had a cross face on. I didn't ask again.

Seth has another friend too, his name is Riley and he says he's sixteen but I know that's a lie. He's nineteen and he's stopped growing just like Sethy has. He has a funny brain. I have to work really hard to read from him. That makes me cross sometimes because I can read everyone else so easily. But I do what Zaffy taught me and I treat it like a challenge. I work really hard to find his 'voice' and then I practise finding it in crowds and in his classes. It's not very easy because he thinks some really strange things.

Almost every time I find him he's thinking about animals even though I know he's here to study his high school diploma and metal work. I thought about asking daddy to add veterinary school to the classes so he'd be happier, but then I'd have to admit to daddy that I'd been reading from someone without permission, and then I'd be in trouble. I don't like being in trouble.

I like Riley. Sethy does too. Riley thinks a lot about my daddy which is nice. He thinks he's very clever, which I know he is, and he thinks he's lucky to be allowed to go to his school. I think that too. I can only come here every other year, which makes me sad, but after this year Sethy won't be here anyway so I won't want to come here then either.

Today I was having lunch with Madi, Nicole and a boy named Tristan who is in my PE class. I don't like him. He pulls my braids and has a stupid grin. But Madi likes to play with him at lunch because she can catch him at tag, so I try my best to be a good friend to Madi and play nicely with Tristan. He smells like peanut butter all the time. Bleurgh.

**EPOV**

By the time the council was ready to meet again, two months after the school opened, I was feeling more in control of the chaos around me.

A routine, of sorts, had settled upon my family and the bigger group too.

The school mostly ran smoothly and I often gave myself a mental pat on the back for having chosen such fantastic staff. Each and every one of them was doing exactly what I hoped they would. They fell in love with both the school and their students.

There was not one dissenter. Each teacher worked hard and went the extra mile to make sure that we kept to our original brief. The students were happy and working hard and so was I.

Nessa was thriving and had surrounded herself with a nice group of girls, and a few boys that drove me and Seth to distraction at times.

Older boys, perhaps sensing her underlying maturity, were drawn to her. At nearly nine she'd shot up another few inches and had grown into her features more. Still childlike, though with a curious mix of woman beginning to emerge. I hated it. I wanted her tiny forever. I guessed that all dads did, not just vampire ones.

Seth was working hard too and that made me happy. He'd taken on board Bella's warning in those weeks after Nessa was born that no layabout would ever have a chance with our daughter and he'd made good on his promises to always work had.

He was acing his general studies and was revelling in the challenges I handed to him via Donna. He didn't know it but most of what she had him doing at his 'afterschool job' – which was a total farce, but I paid Donna handsomely to stay back for the hour after classes – had nothing to do with setting up for the following day's lectures and everything to do with preparing Seth for first year medical school.

He showed real promise with biology and anatomy though the chemistry stumped him a bit. He worked at it though and was nearly almost always head down in a textbook when I got home of an evening.

He was only another month away from having earnt enough to pay for Bella's truck and whilst I wasn't all that keen for him to be moving towards that this fast Bella was excited for him. Nessa was too even though she didn't understand my reticence. I knew he was a good driver, I'd let him drive my cars often enough since he passed his test, but I didn't want Nessa in a vehicle with him.

It had nothing to do with safety either.

Since the day she 'declared' him to be 'hers' I've dreaded the day her feelings for him would begin to change. I knew it was a ways off for now, but in another year or so she'd be going on 13 in human terms and I knew enough about biology and human hormones to know that puberty and Seth were not going to mix. Not in my head anyway.

As had been the case since I met her in the hospital when she was a child Bella remained my constant source of calm joy. She was relishing being a teacher and loved 'mothering' the children in her care. Knowing we'd never get another chance to be parents I had hoped that it was a part of her chosen career that would bring her a lot of happiness. I'd been right.

She set tough assignments but went over and above the call of duty to help her students achieve good results on them. She had the most diverse group of all the classes we ran. Photography tended to be something that attracted older children, since having access to photographic equipment was rarely something small children would have. So it was a small group of older kids who found themselves with my beautiful wife as their teacher and they adored her.

Alice' classes were loud and filled with laughter and what probably felt like more fun than learning. While Bella's classes had their fair share of laughter they were more serious and focused. Photography, especially digital photography and the editing of the images, required a great deal of concentration to achieve consistent results. That leant itself to an air of serious deliberation during the classes. From the thoughts of her students they loved every minute of it.

Her teaching style was like Jasper's. An air of calm and seriousness pervaded his classroom too. He took history very, very seriously and it showed in the way he approached each lesson.

His students were older too. Some were looking for journalistic or creative writing practise and just had a flair for history; others were serious historians in the making, just like Jasper was. One girl in particular peaked Jasper's interest. Her name was Megan and she was a seventeen year old curator hopeful. She needed anthropology and history credits to get into the courses she wanted to attend at college and took Jasper's class to assist amassing them. She hit the jackpot with my brother.

His love for all things ancient made them fast allies and he did all he could to encourage her. He set her extra work for extra credits and had already begun phoning around locally for somewhere for her to begin an internship during the school breaks.

Emmett, true to form, was loved by all.

His over the top teaching style suited the kind of work he loved best, working with his hands, and his students thrived in the environment he worked hard to create inside the workshops.

Despite his easy going exterior he was a surprisingly hard task master. He accepted no excuses from any of his students and expected almost complete perfection on tasks he set. It wasn't above him to reassign a make-up assessment for a student who's welds, for instance, were anything other than completely smooth.

He had taken a real shine to a boy named Riley in his engineering theory class. I liked the boy too, as did Seth and Nessa equally. He seemed a good kid who was eager to learn and was always respectful and polite whenever I had cause to be near him inside the school.

I took particular pride that my students were progressing well too.

Jo Brooks, the boy I'd enlisted Bella's help with to secure, was by far the most talented of the bunch to date. He was relentless in his studies, both piano and general studies, and his passion was immense.

His parents had settled into the area quite well. Their initial reluctance to move west had been put to rest with one phone call from my miraculous wife. Eileen, Jo's mother, quickly accepted the chef position offered and his father Stuart followed soon after when Bella offered him a post in the Engineering department working under Emmett.

They were a delight, as a family and as individuals. Jo was a pleasure to teach, his father was a skilled engineer and despite his limited teaching skills – which he was currently rectifying via the same online course schedule I undertook – he took to the job like a duck to water. Eileen turned out to be every bit as happy with the kitchen and soon had the cafeteria running like clockwork.

I was yet to introduce Jo to anything classical, or even mildly set apart from the rock music he loved to play, but he knew that it was only a matter of time as it was part of the curriculum.

I knew from his thoughts he was nervous about it but I was sure that he would prove every bit as talented at the classics as he was at the modern and I couldn't wait to find out.

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us it was decided that we'd use the opportunity of the empty school to have a council meeting. The conference room was set up ready to go while I awaited the arrival of my board.

The safe houses in and around Seattle had proven their worth tenfold in the previous few months with the board members coming in and out of the region so frequently.

Peter came with Charlotte and of course they stayed in the big house but Liam and Dieter made use of one of the houses in the city though I'm not sure just how much time Dieter has actually spent there.

From the errant thoughts in Felicity's mind of late I'd wager he'd spent more time here, with her, than at the house.

Randall and Eleazar travelled together and stayed with Rose and Emmett. Eleazar spent quite a few hours locked away in conference with Carlisle, which surprised me, and Randall spent quite a few hours with me discussing the tax avoidance scheme.

Today would be the first time that all of us would be present at the one time, with David in the room. Each member knew of him, what he did and how he went about it, but other than my own family and the Denali cousins none had actually met the man before. It could potentially be an explosive meeting.

Esme arrived with Carlisle and Peter and they were soon followed by Randall and Eleazar. Liam and Dieter were late but they had further to come.

The board discussed the minutes of the last meeting, read by Esme, and settled down to decide a few more details about our banking and finance situation before David arrived.

"Moving on," I said once we'd finished hashing out which investments to continue with and which to change. "It's time to decide what percentage of our profits are going to be syphoned off for this bribery fund," I announced. "David will be able to tell you more about how it will work, but before he arrives we should decide how much of the kitty we are willing to devote to it."

The room was silent while all thoughts turned to how often in the past decades each member had had to use their resources to get themselves out of one sticky situation or another.

"Perhaps some sort of graph or table would tell us how much we've individually spent on such things in the past, shall we say, twenty years or so, would that be helpful?" I offered.

"Sounds good," agreed Peter. "Do you have any figures?" he asked astutely.

"Only with regard to my own coven, but yes," I told him and began to draw a crude table on the whiteboard. "I'll keep it simple. These are the pairs within the coven on this side, this side is the general amount they've each had to spend to make certain situations disappear, or run more smoothly whatever the case may be." I drew dots at the points where the expenses were incurred and then joined those dots across the page.

"What's the average amount over twenty years?" Liam asked.

"Thirty-seven thousand American dollars," I announced. "But as you can see there are spikes and dips. This spike here," I pointed to one particularly high dot, "was caused by our need to register Nessa's birth so she could attend public school and we expect something similar when Angel begins next year."

"And the smaller amounts? What were they for, generally?" Eleazar asked.

"This one is Jasper's credentials being changed to suit dates, this one is Rose applying for her engineering documentation, and this one is Carlisle changing the dates on his surgical registration. They are minor amounts but they are going to continually occur. As I'm sure they do for everyone else."

Everyone was agreeing in their thoughts and nodding along with my explanations. All of us, at some point, had had to pay to have documents changed to suit our current situations and nothing was ever going to change that.

"You guys, the ones with kids, your expenses will be higher than ours," Liam suggested and I agreed.

"True. However, I don't intend to ever dip into this fund for my own families affairs," I said as he began to form his idea mentally.

"We could link this fund to the list of those members who can't fund their memberships on their own. Only those who find themselves stuck, for whatever reason, could use it. Those of us who have the means should continue to pay for their own bribes and document adjustments, it would relieve the strain on the fund," he countered.

"I agree," Carlisle raised his hand.

"It's a simple concept, are we ready to vote?" Peter asked to a round of nodding heads. "Those who agree say aye," every voice aye'd. "Those who disagree say nay." Total silence. "Carried."

"Now, the amount?" I asked.

"If the average is about twenty grand per couple, those without kids to support excluded, that rounds out to about a grand per year per pair. We've got fifty registrations so far so that's fifty grand per year if we just siphon off a grand per person. How many do you think will need to use it?" Randall asked.

"Eight, maybe nine," I answered. "But that's only if they need to use the fund just once per year."

He nodded seriously. "Will it harm the other funds if we siphon more off?" he asked again.

"I don't think so. Plus, keep in mind, the funds aren't static. We can transfer funds between each of the accounts anytime we want, so we can top it up or take from another to bolster it if needed," I told him.

"In a hurry though?" he asked.

"Within hours, yes," I agreed.

"But this fund, this bribery fund, it's just going to sit isn't it? We aren't investing it in anything, it's just going to sit, right?" Peter asked.

"I assume so, yes," I said as I looked around the room.

"Right, so if we aren't going to make money off it we should leave a basic amount in it and top it up from the cream off the top of other investments if we have to. That way the biggest amount of money is working for us, while the smaller amount sits still," Randall said firmly, sitting back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head.

It had been my thought too, to do it just as he'd described and once again I found myself in awe of this seemingly 'simple' man. He wasn't simple, he hid his talents behind a fairly large bushel, but he wasn't simple by any means. "Vote?" I asked as I reached across the table and held my fist out to him.

He smiled wide and bumped me. "All those in favour say aye," he grinned. A resounding group reply of aye was heard. "Those not in favour say nay," he grinned again. Silence, again.

"Carried," I announced. By this point I could clearly make out David's thoughts as he approached the school. "Our lawyer is about to join us," I told them as I gathered up my paperwork and shoved it back into the file.

Dieter immediately got to his feet, his thoughts beginning to boil. '_That fucker frightened my girl,' _he thought as David knocked on the conference room door.

As I stood to open it and invite him in Dieter shoved Liam aside and flew at the shocked vampire.

Shit.

**Romania**

Dominique had few lapses in judgement in his first months as a vampire. His resolve to preserve human life was as strongly defined as Bella's had been during her first few months, though being surrounded by new vampires who had dissimilar convictions made things difficult at times. Daria could calm him instantly, just as Edward had managed to beg Bella off the hunt in her first months.

Raul had wasted no time in reforming his guard once his uncle had shown him the way. Raul watched and learned the technique of biting and injecting his venom, then sealing the wound, from Eleazar. Eleazar had chosen a man of twenty seven who had the potential to be just as Jane had been. Even as a human Eleazar could plainly see his potential and while it was against his better judgement to change someone as ruthless as Goran was as a human, he did so. Raul had a right to protect himself and his family, just as Edward had said. Eleazar was right to want to help what was left of his family, also as Edward had said, but his unease became more and more unpalatable as Raul went about his repopulation.

Using Eleazar's ability to quantify potential gifts Raul sought out those with unusual or potentially useful gifts. Absinthe, a Polish immigrant, had proven to be a shield and Petrov had indeed turned out to be able to blind other vampires, just as Eleazar had predicted prior to their change.

Raul's ability to turn another, however, wasn't without its perils. He killed two young men before successfully changing Petrov and another before being able to bring another guard member over.

It was only after feeding that Raul could turn another. He would choose some wretch to assuage his thirst and would then attempt to turn whoever it was he'd set his sights on.

Raul changed fourteen in quick succession in order to have them all 'mature' at about the same rate in order to form his guard. They were uncontrollable at first, needing to feed quite often in the first few weeks, which proved tricky to arrange.

Coupled with the in-fighting that occurred amongst the group Raul found himself as little more than babysitter and nursemaid while they each struggled to control themselves.

After three months he was left with twelve fairly well behaved guards and Petrov, his personal bodyguard. Petrov was impulsive but had relished his new role as protector to his master. Easily controlled and kept loyal by an endless stream of young girls on which to feed Petrov embraced his newfound strength and the power he now wielded over the guard.

Feeling safer and more protected now that he was surrounded by the new guard Raul waved goodbye to his uncle and set his sights on a mate.

Bus loads of American tourists flooded into the walled city in a steady flow during the winter. They gabbled loudly, took hundreds of photos and posed endlessly in snow drifts and beside the guards, just as they had in Raul's fathers time. He'd never taken much notice of them, preferring to be indoors when the courtyards and lower floors of the castle were inundated with them.

One bus load, however, had been different. This one had two separate groups. An older group of castle fanatics and a small group of college girls on an end of year trip after graduating college. Amelia stood out because of her flame red hair and the impish grin she wore during the tour of the castle and grounds.

Raul noticed her because she winked at him as they passed by one another in a corridor as she was being ushered into the public rooms.

Something about him intrigued her. It was obvious to her who he was, he was lord of the castle. But his wealth and power weren't all that attracted her to him. It was the way he held himself, the quiet menace in his gait, the sense of danger in his movements, the warning in his gaze.

Raul felt a jolt of lust coupled with a deep longing for the girls blood. He watched her intently as she moved through the rooms. She was brash, outgoing and crass and Raul had never been so turned on by another living creature in his life. She was everything he thought he loathed. He thought he was looking for a quiet, calm and innocent young girl to make his own. This girl was the antithesis of his vision and he was instantly drawn to her.

When the group passed by him and the tour guide introduced him to the visitors he nodded solemnly, as he always did, and stepped back into the shadows as the group moved on. Straggling at the rear of the group was the girl. She tucked her bangs behind her ear and sashayed by him with a deliberate swing to her hips, knowing he was watching. He hardened instantly.

As the group moved on to a lower floor to be shown the kitchens Raul was there to watch her. Her scent flooded his senses as she stood at the back of the congregated tourists. In such close proximity he could smell her arousal. It made his venom flow freely about his mouth and he pushed it to his palate and tasted it mixed with her pungent aroma.

She took a small step backwards, almost leaning her back to his chest. He drew in a hasty breath and sighed so lowly that no human ear could ever detect it. It was as though he was hypnotised by this girl. And what was worse was that she somehow sensed his need, she knew how he felt because she felt it too.

Backing up a little more she swung her right arm behind herself and reached for him. Without thinking he closed the distance and shoved his arousal against her buttocks. She too sighed but it was not lost to his phenomenal hearing.

When the guide moved the group onwards he clutched at her forearm and held her still. Her friends and companions did not look for her for they believed her to be at the back of the group, where she'd been since the tour began.

She stood in front of him breathing heavily. He stood behind her barely able to contain his panting.

Moving towards her he used his knees to propel her forwards and they followed the group slowly, trailing behind. As they moved through the darkened corridor Raul pulled the girl into an alcove and buried his nose in her throat, no longer able to deny himself the scent of her blood. She didn't fight him. The attraction had been instantaneous and mutual. She clung to him, stunned at the coldness of his skin and drawn to the fire in his ruby red eyes.

"What are you?" she rasped.

Raul ignored the question, unable and unwilling to tell her the truth. "Tell your group to go on," he whispered as he let his lips caress the soft hollow at the base of her throat. Her heart began to race and he could feel the pull of her rapidly beating pulse as she clutched at his cloak.

She said nothing, merely nodded and he reluctantly let her go. He stood in the alcove and waited. She didn't disappoint. She felt it too. Lust. Longing. Need. Excitement. Fear.

With the group out of sight Raul grabbed for her wrist as she made her way back to where he stood, waiting.

She didn't hesitate to follow wherever he chose to lead her. When they came to the stairwell at the end of the corridor he scooped low and took her into his arms. She gasped at the ease with which he carried her up the two flights of stairs and sucked in a deep breath when he placed her back onto her feet at the foot of his huge canopied bed.

He all but flew back to the door and slammed it with such force that the hinges groaned and the framed portraits on his walls swayed. Just as quickly he was once again before her. He never broke the stare they shared as he sliced her dress from collar to hip and tore the rest from her body.

Wide eyed she buckled at the knees as his lips found her breast for the first time. His cool tongue ignited such a fire inside her that she cried out when his teeth made their first incision.

Pleasure, pain, fear, lust, desire and a nervous excitement engulfed her as he bit again and again. As the fire inside her began to climb she clung to him and as he plunged himself into her supple young body he vowed to make her his queen.

Amelia rose a vampire after just fifty seven hours and immediately embraced both Raul and her role as queen of the castle. The explanation of what she now was permeated her brain slowly as her new mate filled in the blanks in her cognition. She should be frightened. She should be aghast. She should be angry. She was none of those things for she was now powerful and wealthy and she was his.

Just as Raul had accepted Daria's choice with Dom, Daria embraced her new sister in law fully. While Raul went about running his castle and his farms it fell to Daria to assist the new vampires with their cravings. Coming to terms with their thirst proved easier for Dom than it did Amelia and Raul was forced to dispose of several bodies of her hapless victims in the early months.

Dealing with her grieving parents who arrived to search for their daughter in the area was unsettling, but necessary. Amelia never blinked an eyelid over it, instead of feeling bad for her family's pain she relished in her new found power. She demanded absolute excellence from her maids and in turn she became feared by all the castle staff.

As she came to terms with her newfound strength and abilities she settled into castle life and loosened her stance on many of the outrageous claims she had once made on the staff. In time she became respected and as both she and Dom shook off their newborn unpredictability the two couples settled into what could pass for domestic bliss inside the castle walls.

The lone dissenter was Ana.

She was, at first, pleased that her niece had found a mate but when Raul introduced her to the newly transformed Amelia Ana was shocked to the core.

Once again surrounded by seemingly happy couples she drifted further and further apart from what was left of her family. She fed even less regularly than she had in the months after returning from that fateful trip to America and as the months after Dom and Amelia's change passed, and they became more and more engrossed in their new relationships, she began to despise their happiness.

**BPOV**

"I'm sorry Seth, but you can't hang out here with your friends," I told him sadly. "It would be alright if it was boys from the Rez, or even Forks High, but not from our school, I'm sorry."

He shrugged as though it was no big deal, but I knew it was. It was just one more thing that made him feel less than normal. "It's okay. I guess we'll go to the Rez, see my olds, it's no big deal Bell's, really." He reached for his backpack and made for the front door of the cottage.

"Wait," I called after him. "It is a big deal. You should be able to have your friends around, I'm sorry that they can't come here, but...um, give me a second," I asked him and ran back to the study to retrieve my cell phone. I quickly called Esme at the school and cleared the idea with her, then ran back to the front door and Seth. "There's nobody home at the big house, Esme will be back in an hour and she isn't known by anyone at the school. The pool house is all yours until at least six," I smiled.

He kissed me hurriedly on the cheek and called a loud 'thank you' as he ran off in the direction of the big house, cell phone already dialling whichever of his friends he'd invited over.

Nessa, whom I knew would've been either listening or reading the conversation that we just had, came out of her room with her finished homework in her hand. She'd only been home twenty minutes and I knew without looking at it that she'd hurried through it on purpose.

"I'm all done mommy," she said sweetly, placing the book onto the kitchen table.

I leaned over and took a quick look. "This here isn't very neat," I pointed to her maths problems that looked as though a chicken had scratched the answers onto the page using its claws. "Do you think Ms Curtis will approve of this?" I asked.

Nessa bit her bottom lip just like I did and shook her head. "No," she whispered.

"I think you can do better than this. How about you try again?"

"Yes momma," she groaned and took the book back to her room.

Before she got all the way in I called to her, "If you do a good job on that," I pointed to the book in her hands, "You can go and swim. But if you rush you'll only have to do it all again," I raised my eyebrows and she grinned.

"Yes momma," she sang and ran into her room at full speed.

I laughed to myself and went about setting out the things for hers and Seth's dinner.

**Renesmee POV**

Sethy was so funny around other big boys!

He laughed and splashed me and threw me in the pool until I squealed for him to stop.

It was hard not to show the human boys how strong we were, or that were bonded, so I had to pretend to just be a dumb little kid while his friends were around. Sethy didn't seem to care though. He played with me as much as he played with the other boys and he even 'kept an eye on me' like he should've if I'd been human.

Jett looked almost like me his skin was so pale, but Riley was almost as brown as my brown boy was. When he picked up Seth and 'bombed' him into the water it was just like watching Uncle Emmett do it he was so strong. That's when I knew he wasn't a silly human. His brain worked different and he was strong, very strong.

Even though I knew I shouldn't I listened to his words and his thoughts at the same time. He kept thinking about how interesting Seth was and how fascinating I was. That was weird because he just thinks I'm Seth's cousin and that he's just supposed to keep an eye on me while we swim. He should just think I'm a dumb little human kid.

Nana-Me came and checked on us when she got home from her meeting with my daddy at the school and I waved and smiled to her when she said hello. She said I could have a cookie when it was time to get out. I liked her cookies because she filled them with chocolate for me.

I grabbed my coloured metal tubes and threw them into the water so I could dive for them. Doing that would make it look like I was playing instead of being naughty and listening to Riley. Even under the water I could read his thoughts. He wasn't very good at hiding them, or maybe he just didn't know that there were peoples who could read them?

I collected all the tubes and pushed my way out of the water like a dolphin. Seth was shoving Jett into the water while Riley shouted for him to hurry up and do it from the edge. When Seth dumped Jett into the water again I called for him to watch me because I was being a dolphin. He smiled and stood still while he watched.

'_Cute kid. I bet she'd love it if I turned into a real dolphin for her!'_ Riley thought while I was under the water.

Huh? Could he turn into a dolphin? That's just silly. Sethy can turn into a wolf and Holly can turn into whichever vampire she wants to, but nobody can turn into a dolphin, can they?

I pushed up through the water again, a bit closer to Riley this time, and when I'd finished my dive I swam over to him and smiled. "I like dolphins too. My room is painted like under the sea and there is a dolphin on the door to my closet," I told him, trying to be friendly. "You can come and see it one day, if you want. I know you like animals a real lot, I do too, I guess." His eyes got real wide and then he blinked real fast, lots of times. His brain started running really fast. I thought he might be going to be sick he looked so worried. I put my hand on his arm and smiled again. "Don't be afraid of me, I won't hurt you," I told him real quietly.

Sethy jumped into the pool and grabbed me around my tummy, pulling me away from his friend. "Not now Nessie," he whispered real low in my ear. "It's getting late little one, you better get inside and get dressed for your Nana."

I nodded and said okay but what I really wanted to do was talk to Riley some more. I liked him, he was different. Maybe not the same way I was, but he wasn't like Seth and he wasn't like my friend Madi and he wasn't like me and Angel either. Just different. I didn't know what he was but I didn't want him to be afraid of me either.

Stupid Seth.

I got out of the pool and went inside to my Nana-Me and ate the cookies and drank the milk she had out for me on the kitchen counter.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" she asked real quietly while I ate my cookie. I shook my head and said there wasn't, but I could tell from her thoughts that she heard me talking to Riley and she wanted to know about him too. "Well, you know that if you want to I will always listen," she told me and kissed my hair like always.

I told her thank you and ate my cookies.

Sethy took momma's old truck keys off the counter and took his friends home almost right away. He didn't kiss me goodbye and he didn't tap his temple for me either. He always kisses me and he always taps his temple so he can tell me that he will miss me while he's away. This time he didn't. He was cross with me and I didn't have to read his thoughts to know it.

Even though Nana-Me had gone upstairs to her room I could still hear her on the phone with someone. I didn't know who it was but I just knew I was going to be in trouble when mommy or daddy collected me later.

When I'd finished my cookies I ran up to my room way up in the top of the house and went into mommy and daddy's shower. I washed all the chlorine off my skin and out of my hair. I put on a pretty dress that Aunty Alice put in my closet up here for me and then I sat on the end of my bed. I didn't want to go home and I didn't want to go downstairs again.

I wished Angel was around. I could tell her and she'd be on my side. She was always on my side. Seth usually was too, but he was cross with me too this time.

I didn't even know why really. His friend is different, like we were, I thought he'd want to know? Even if Seth didn't want to know I thought it might be nice for Riley to know that he's not odd. Maybe he's never met anyone who was different before? I don't like being different either and until I met Nathaniel and Angelica, then Angel was borned, I always felt lonely. Maybe Riley was lonely too? Seth didn't know and neither did I, so I tried to make friends.

I sat on the end of my bed and thought about what I was going to say to daddy and to Seth. Being in trouble with daddy was bad enough but I hated being in trouble with Sethy. His sad eyes always made me cry.

I heard Pa's car in the driveway and looked at the clock beside my bed. He was very early. I knew he had a council meeting with my daddy at the school and he should be there for hours yet. Then I heard Uncle Jasper and Aunty Alice drive in behind him. They were early too.

When I heard Aunty Rose come home too I knew I was really in lots of trouble. Was _everyone_ cross with me?

Maybe I wasn't going to be allowed to go back to daddy's school because of Riley now?

Maybe Sethy wasn't going to be allowed to be friends with him anymore?

Then I smelled mommy. She was running. Very fast.

I was in big, big trouble.

**EPOV**

My first thought was to get as much support behind me as I could. "Carlisle!" I shouted as loud as I could, making the door to the conference room shake and Piper step back and take stock of his surroundings, buying me precious seconds. "Esme, get back!" I roared, making Esme wince, but she did as I asked and retreated to the back of the room.

To his credit Carlisle was on his feet, dragging both Liam and Eleazar up with him thankfully, in a heartbeat. None of them had any idea what the problem was, just that there was a problem if I was shouting.

"Dieter no!" Carlisle roared which also bought me another few seconds.

Peter too was on his feet now as he rushed between me and Piper. "Stay!" he boomed at Piper, who did as he was bid and stood stock still while Dieter was taken to the floor by Carlisle and Eleazar.

Randall and Liam placed themselves between the two groups, crouching and ready to strike should either side make a move.

"What is this about?" Carlisle hissed at Dieter who was writhing beneath him and trying frantically to get clear and take his shot at Piper.

"That piece of shit frightened the hell out of my woman!" Dieter shrieked.

Piper took to his crouch and hissed back at Dieter. He had no idea what was going on and truly didn't have any notion of having frightened anyone, let alone another vampire's mate.

"Dieter, he doesn't know," I told him earnestly and hoped he'd listen. He struck out again, futilely, between Carlisle's legs. "Dieter!" I raged, "He doesn't know that he frightened her. Let it go, talk it out."

"I didn't know he was seeing someone," Randall whispered to Liam who shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know either.

"If I let you up will you behave?" Eleazar asked the still prone Dieter.

"Get off me old man," Dieter seethed, which only made Eleazar hold on tighter. With one last push to Carlisle's legs the fight went out of Dieter. "Get off me, I'm fine," he mumbled.

Everyone looked to me and it took me a second to realise what it was they needed me for. I looked to Dieter and gave him a raised eyebrow. '_I won't strike him,' _he thought. Dieter was calmer, but not mollified completely.

"Let him up but keep him on that side of the room," I pointed to the far side, the windowed side and Carlisle and Eleazar let him up.

"What did I do?" Piper asked me hesitantly as he came further into the room.

I threw one last look at Dieter and sighed. "Have a seat David," I pointed to a chair on _this_ side of the room and he took it, shoving his briefcase at his feet. "Dieter has a human, shall we say love interest Dieter?" I asked and he nodded. "She works here and you frightened her the first time you came to see me. That's all. He didn't know he'd frightened her Dieter, Bella took care of her, and she's fine."

"I know that," Dieter spat.

David looked to me then Dieter then back to me. He was shaken. From his thoughts I learned that it had been a long time since he'd been in the company of so many vampires and he had been uneasy coming here, knowing we were gathered, in the first place. This altercation didn't help settle his thoughts either. I didn't actually care. He needed taking down a peg and from what I knew of his meeting with Randall and the Denali cousins he deserved a beating, at the very least.

He'd turned up there cocky and arrogant and had stormed into their home and demanded an audience with Randall. Now, Randall being Randall made a joke of it and hadn't held a grudge, but the cousins had.

In David's defence he thought he was one of the only 'civilised' vampires on the planet and didn't realise that what they have in Alaska isn't a coven, it's a home. I had been hoping that if he spent a little time with us that he'd see that we are civilised. Dieter wanting to kill him wasn't going to go too far making that first impression though.

I took my seat and pointed for the others to take theirs too. Dieter had calmed enough and there were no longer any thoughts of killing Piper in his mind. I'd keep an eye on the situation.

"Right," I began. "Dieter, Liam, Carlisle, Peter," I pointed to the other males in turn. "And this is Esme," I smiled at her and she returned it before nodding her head slightly at our guest. "Eleazar and Randall you already know. Gentlemen, and lady, this is David Piper, our lawyer." I gave them a moment to get their thoughts together before speaking again. "Dieter, David really didn't have any idea that he'd frightened Flick and he didn't do anything untoward to scare her either, before you ask. I was here; I heard and saw their interaction. She was just reacting normally, like any human would. And David, Flick is fine, my wife comforted her, and you weren't to know."

Every thought in the room, besides Dieter and David's was consumed with the new knowledge that my coordinator was more than likely the mate of one of our council. A fact that none of them had known about prior to today. Hell, I didn't really know much more, only that Felicity liked Dieter and Dieter liked Felicity. It wasn't my business and even though Bella wanted to gossip with me about it I declined each time she brought it up.

"I sincerely apologise Dieter," David had the good sense to bow slightly and lower his gaze as he said it.

"Accepted," Dieter grumbled. "You weren't to know, apparently," he shot me a look and I nodded sagely.

"Right, with that out of the way let's begin the meeting. What news have you got for us David?"

When Esme excused herself to answer her cell phone we adjourned the meeting.

After a rocky start things went a little more smoothly and we actually accomplished quite a lot. Our travel document problem was all but solved thanks to David's ingenuity and we had three more safe houses in the process of being 'acquired'.

With Randall's help David had mastered the art of tax avoidance and begrudgingly gave all the credit where it was due. Randall was as proud as I'd ever seen him. Well, maybe not quite as proud as the day I gave Katie away to him, but close.

When Esme returned to the room she told us that she was needed at home and we all wished her a good afternoon. Silently she told me that Seth had taken his friends to the big house for a swim and that Nessa had joined them. She was heading home to supervise, like any good grandmother would.

The meeting broke up properly then and we all sat around talking and gossiping.

Dieter was the first to disappear, citing a need to get back to the safe house he was sharing with Liam. I knew it was bullshit; he had a date with Felicity, but wished him a good evening when he left. Liam left too, but his thoughts were only for getting back to the safe house safely, he had no other plans.

Randall was staying at Emmett's so he was in no hurry to leave. Charlotte and Peter were staying at the big house so he too bid us goodnight and wandered down to Emmett's office for a tour. Eleazar was staying a hotel. From his thoughts I could tell that he was disappointed not to have been invited to stay with one of the family, but as yet nobody had extended any kind of invitation to him. I might be a little easier around him now, but he wasn't likely to get an invite from me too soon either.

That left me, Randall and Carlisle because David was quick to excuse himself as soon as it was deemed polite. He said he'd be in touch with some details about our bribery fund and said he was returning to LA and to his office.

"Do you trust him?" Carlisle asked as soon as he was sure we could no longer be heard by his retreating form.

"He's an interesting character, and for what we need him to do yes. But he'll never be my favourite friend," I chuckled as I shoved the papers back into their respective files.

"Oh Eddie, you said that about me once too, now we're tight," he laughed and punched me on the shoulder as he passed by me. "I'm off. I want to catch Katie on the phone before she heads out for the hunt."

Carlisle and I waved him off but I didn't comment on what he'd said. It was true he'd been my least favourite of the visiting vampires for a long time, but now, well, now that he was safely married and had toned down his flirting with my wife I tolerated him better.

"Why did we never know there was a vampire lawyer in the States?" Carlisle asked reasonably.

"Because he's very good at what he does and he knows how to hide himself when it's time to move on. Just like us."

He leaned forward and steepled his hands and I prepared myself for whatever was on his mind. I'd already read it from him, so I busied myself until he was ready.

"Twice I've watched you and Alice run off for privacy. Is there something I should know about?" he asked cautiously.

I thought about it for half a second then shook my head. "Nothing to tell. I just needed some advice," I half lied.

"I know I don't need to remind you, but you do remember what happened the last time you kept secrets, right?"

"I do," I nodded firmly. "But this isn't a secret. It's a theory. A theory I don't have an answer for just yet. As soon as I do, or Alice finds one, we'll share," I chuckled.

"I do enjoy a good theory," he chuckled in reply but said no more.

I shoved my files into the safe and prepared to go home for the day as my cell phone rang. I saw that it was Bella and answered jovially, looking forward to getting home at a reasonable hour for a change. "Hello beautiful."

"We have a problem. You need to come home, now," she huffed. She was running and I panicked immediately.

"What do you know?" I yelled into the phone as I rounded the corner of the office and motioned for my dad to get moving. He might not have known what was going on but he could sense my panic and was already on his feet. I hit speaker on my cell and listened as intently as I could.

"Nessa's said something she shouldn't have to someone she shouldn't have. We need damage control. Big house, now," she shouted in reply.

"Fifteen minutes," I said into the phone and ran out the door yelling to my father who was already in his car, the engine idling, waiting for instruction. I flew to the driver's side window. "Go by the garage, get Rosie, I'll bring the others. Your house, fast. There's no danger, just damage control," I told him, knowing he'd heard the call and would understand that at least.

He was gone before I made it to the classrooms on the second floor of the opposite buildings. "Alice, Jasper," I shouted. When their heads came out of their respective classrooms I shouted for them to get home now. They wasted no time and were pounding the pavement and going towards Alice' car before I made it to Emmett's office and told him the same.

Alice and Jasper were ahead of Emmett and me as the two of us made our way through the forest heading for home at a good clip. I filled Emmett in on what I knew so far and then called Seth's cell.

"It's ok Edward, I took him home. I don't think he realised what she said," Seth told me as I ran.

"I have no idea what you mean, but I need you to round up whoever Nessa spoke to today and get them back to the big house, now," I told him.

"Aww shit, really?" he huffed. "Look, Jett is cool. He didn't hear shit and he had no idea what Nessa was going on about. I swear, he's oblivious. But Riley, he's freaked. I'll bring him back, but not Jett."

"If you think that's best fine, but I reserve the right to check for myself with Jett later on. Get Riley and get home," I told him and snapped my phone shut as Emmett and I hit the jetty.

I could hear Nessa crying already.

Shit. Whatever had happened had upset her. I hated it when she cried.

* * *

**A/N: Aww, Nessa is in trouble :P**

**Thanks so much for reading. I'm really enjoying writing the Riley parts. It's nice to have a new character to build.**

**Please review. **


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: I apologise for the length of the wait for this chapter. I found it tough and it took much, much longer to hone than I'd first expected. **

**This story is so very complicated now, I needed the extra time to lay the foundation for what's ahead, so it took me a little longer to make this one right. **

**Thank you for your patience. **

* * *

Chapter 21 – A Shift in Shape

**Riley POV**

Seth was coming back for me.

I sat exactly where he'd left me, on the porch of my parent's new house. There was no point leaving, or running, there was nowhere to go and I knew how to defend myself if it came down to it. I liked Seth and didn't want it to come to blows so I sat passively still.

He slid his ancient truck to a halt on the tarmac and ran to me.

"What are you?" he screamed as he ran.

I stayed where I was, sitting on the porch. If I got to my feet and shouted back this would end in violence and I couldn't condone violence. "What are _you_?" I asked as he skidded to a stop at my feet.

"I asked you a fucking question. What are you?" he bellowed.

He was shaking from head to toe, his hands were balled into fists at his sides and he was sweating profusely. I had no idea what he was capable of, but it was obvious that he was fighting something within himself, just like I did when I had to fight to stay in human form. "Shifter, what are you?" I asked as calmly as I could.

He blew his held breath out between his teeth and I watched, nervously, as he tried to calm himself. He shook slightly and all the tension he was holding on to seemed to melt away. "Shifter," he whispered more to himself than to me and then he sat down right beside me on the steps. "I'm Quileute, shifter too, we're wolves," he said in a deadpan voice.

"Ahh," I nodded as I said it. "I've heard of you guys, never seen or met one before though," I told him and held out my hand between us. He looked to it and then put his hand in mine. "Riley Stone, shape shifter, nice to meet you Quileute shifter Seth."

"Yeah, nice too meet you Riley," he said quietly.

We sat quietly for a few moments, neither knowing what to say now. It was uncomfortable the longer the silence reigned. I figured I was the problem here so I should start. "Um, where do you fit, with the vampires?" I asked. It was as good a place as any to begin, I thought so anyway.

"You know about vampires?" he asked in a creaky voice.

"Yeah, I've met quite a few in my time," I told him honestly. There didn't seem any point in lying or keeping anything from him, I intended to stay in the area, at least until I had my trade, and now that he knew what I was I figured he'd tell the vamps anyway. Better to have all the cards on the table.

"In your time? How long?" he asked.

I chuckled, "I'm not like them, necessarily. I'm nineteen but I'm going to be nineteen for a long, long time."

"Yeah, I get that. I'm seventeen and once I'm fully grown I'll stay that way too," he mumbled.

He looked pretty well fully grown to me now, he was bloody huge, but figured he'd get bigger yet if he said he wasn't done. "The vamps don't change either, right?" I asked. They'd always fascinated me but this was my very first opportunity to actually ask such questions and I didn't want to waste the chance.

"Yeah, they're stuck, just like us. Well, I'm not exactly stuck, more like...um, well, while they're around I won't change, won't grow. Once they leave, or I leave them, I'll go back to normal, or so the legend goes. Won't happen though," he huffed.

To me it sounded pretty simple. If he had the chance to be normal, to grow, and that all hinged on his being near to vampires, why not just leave? I didn't get it. If I had that choice I'd take it with both hands!

"So go," I tell him.

"I can't," he mumbles.

"Your family? Are they near?"

"On the Rez, about eight miles west of here, yeah. But it's not that, exactly. We are a pack and I'm going to be the Beta soon, when I graduate. I have a sister there, my parents and the pack. I don't want to live to far from them, but I don't want to be away from the Cullen's either."

That took me by surprise. Why on earth would this kid _want_ to be near vampires? "Aren't you guys supposed to be enemies? Aren't they like your Lex Luther to your Superman or something?" I laughed.

He nodded and looked back down to his feet. His shoulders slumped and he let out a long breath. "Look, it's complicated alright? I'm supposed to take you there now; they want to talk to you. But I can't have you there if you're a threat to Nessa, or Bella, hell to any of them, alright? If you go back there...what will you do? Are you dangerous? Can I trust you? Should I trust you?"

"Who's Bella? And what's Nessa to you? Oh shit...is Bella your woman? Is Nessa your kid?" I asked, suddenly excited.

"No, shit no, nothing like that, jeez," he growled as he got to his feet. He was shaking again now. Something I'd said had upset him. I didn't know which bit. "Look, Edward has asked me to bring you back to the big house to meet them. I can't force you to but I think you should. They're good people, they're my family too, and they wouldn't hurt you. I can promise you that, they wouldn't hurt anyone. But I can't take you back there if you're a threat to them."

"I'm no threat to anyone," I laughed. "I can change into any animal I see, but I've never hurt anyone in my life and I don't plan to start now," I told him truthfully. I'd gotten in my fair share of scrapes, as human and as an animal, but I'd never actually hurt anyone other than the usual bloodied nose or bruised jaw. Boys fought, it's what we do. "You say they're your family too, right?" I asked and he nodded. "So what gives? Where do you fit? Who's Bella and what's Nessa to you?"

He began to pace then. Back and forth in front of me, eyes on his feet. "I fit there, with them. I know it makes no sense, but I just do. Like I said, it's complicated. Will you come and meet them? Give them a chance to explain it all?"

"Who is head of the coven and can I trust him?" I asked, getting to my feet and dusting my jeans down with my hands.

"That's complicated too," he laughed. "It's usually Carlisle Cullen, he's the oldest I guess, but lately that's been shifting towards Edward. That's our principal," he added for good measure.

I knew who Edward Cullen was, of course, but Carlisle Cullen was a new name for me. "How many are there?" I asked.

He squinted his eyes as he counted. "Ten altogether, and me."

"Jesus," I mumbled. "That's the biggest coven I've ever heard of."

"it's bigger than that, actually, there's sort of an extended family of cousins and there are a couple of visitors at the moment so I'm not sure how many will be there when we get back, but none of them mean you any harm, I swear it. Edward wouldn't let anything happen."

"Bigger than that? How many?" I asked, just out of interest. I kind of knew that they wouldn't necessarily hurt me. I mean, Edward was the principal at my school, I knew there were other Cullen's there and one of them was my homeroom and welding teacher, so I figured they probably weren't the kind to drag someone off and eat them, but knowing there were a dozen, maybe more, of them just living out there somewhere was a bit of a shock.

"The main family is ten, plus me, but...look...a couple of years ago we got into some trouble and a whole group formed, maybe eighty of us including my pack...and well, I guess we consider them all family now. But they aren't all there right now. Sometimes they are, like for weddings and shit, but right now there's six visitors or so. They're all good, trust me."

Eighty vampires? In one place? At one time? What trouble would require eight vampires? Jesus. What have I walked into here?

**EPOV**

"I know nothing more than you all do," I told the assembled truthfully. "His name is Riley Stone, his file says he's sixteen and he's enrolled to take his GED and do an engineering apprenticeship with Emmett. I can hear him, his scent seems normal, I can read him and so can Nessa by the sound of things."

Nessa looked forlorn. I tried so hard not to be angry with her, but it had been her that had put herself at risk and she needed to know that this behaviour had consequences. She snuggled deeper into Bella's side but I knew from her face, without needing to read from her, that she knew I was disappointed with her. She let her eyes wander around the room. Each thought and each expression was pretty close to my own. She'd been told – warned too – to keep her secret and by extension ours, but she'd ignored that and had attempted to make friends with god knows what. And right now Riley was a 'what' because whatever he was he wasn't like us and he wasn't like Nessa or Angel either.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Bella asked the cringing little girl. Nessa shook her head and buried her face in Bella's side. "Can you show mommy then?" Bella hedged. Again Nessa shook her head. Bella turned to me with pleading eyes but I knew that I wasn't the right man for this particular job, not while I was angry anyway.

"We'll wait for Seth," I told her and with that she had to be content. I could see that she wasn't though.

I felt Nessa's shield drop – it was always punctuated with a sort of 'tapping' in my head – and looked to her. _'I'm sorry for being so naughty daddy,' _she told me silently. I nodded once but said nothing out loud. '_I just wanted to be his friend, he's different and I wanted him to know that it's alright to be different. I thought he might have been lonely, like Angel. That's all.'_

My heart ached for her then. I hadn't known that Angel was lonely. Even surrounded by all of us could these little girls really feel that different, that isolated that one of them felt the need to reach out to another someone 'other'?

"Edward?" Bella whispered and held out her hand for me.

"Yes, love," I nodded and put my hand into hers.

"Are you okay? Rosie was talking to you and you were just staring off into space."

I closed my eyes briefly and nodded. "Sorry Rose, what were you saying?" I asked my sister.

"I said, Liam and Dieter are on their way and Eleazar will be leaving shortly," Rosie told me with raised eyebrows.

"Fine, fine," I said noncommittally. I wasn't sure this was anything to do with anyone other than the immediate family but couldn't fault our guests for wanting to be on hand. "You better call Randall and Peter and Charlotte then too, they'll want in."

Rosie was up and on her cell phone before I'd finished speaking. "On it," she told me as she went up the stairs to make the calls from Carlisle's office.

"Bella, take the girls up to Nessa's room please," I told my wife who looked to me sceptically. "Please?" I asked again before she nodded and took one very sorry little girl and one very curious little girl up the stairs. "Carlisle, we should inform the rest of the pack, they should be here, this involves them too seeing as Seth is involved."

He nodded and pulled his own cell phone from his pocket. "Sam knows, he is just waiting for the invitation," he said.

I figured as much seeing as Carlisle had swung by the garage to collect Rose.

Now all we had to do was wait.

Fifteen minutes later I heard Seth's thoughts as he drove towards the house. "They're coming," I told everyone assembled. "Seth seems okay, mentally at least. He's got Riley with him," I told them and returned to listening for their thoughts. "Riley's not afraid exactly, just nervous. Seth's told him there are lots of us." I listened carefully as the roar of Bella's old truck began to make itself known to the others. '_Edward, if you can hear me, he wants to speak with just you first. Can you come outside a minute?' _Seth told me via his thoughts as he pulled the truck into the driveway. "Riley wants to speak with me alone for a moment. Sam call your pack to heal and make a perimeter if you will. Eleazar, take a small group and head on out the back, cut off the river and the routes to the cottage and Emmett's. Jaz and Em can you get upstairs and make sure Nessa is safe while I speak with him? Everyone else stay indoors. I'll let you know when you can stand down."

There were a few mental grumbles but most thoughts were with me on this. It might not be safe and none of us had any idea what or who Riley really was. For now we needed to be cautious.

Bella squeezed my hand but did not ask me to stay inside, nor did she tell me to be careful, she merely squeezed my hand and let it go when I made to move outside.

"I'm coming out," I told Seth not knowing whether Riley would hear me too.

Riley's thoughts were fairly calm though he was trembling slightly as he stood up against the cab of the old truck. Seth stood beside him and looked only slightly less nervous than his friend.

"Edward this is Riley, Riley this is Edward Cullen, my um...um, yeah, this is Edward Cullen," Seth said awkwardly.

I smiled at Seth and nodded at Riley, unsure how to approach or even if I should. "Hello Riley," I said flatly as a consolation.

"Hello sir," he said stiffly. From his thoughts I could tell he was unsure how to address me seeing as I was actually his principal.

I thought it best to just get it over with so I thrust my hand out in front of me and held it there for him to either shake or denounce. Either way I'd know where I stood. "You can call me Edward here," I told him.

He thought long and hard about whether or not to shake my hand but eventually he did. He ran hot just like Seth. Huh.

"Hi Edward, I guess I'm just Riley," he shrugged.

"Well, just Riley, I hear you wanted to speak with me, I'm all ears son," I said cautiously.

Renesmee's thoughts were pleading with me to be nice and whilst I had no intention of being anything other than nice I wasn't about to welcome this stranger into my home either.

With a brief look at Seth – who nodded and mentally pled with his friend to trust me – he nodded at me and took a deep breath. "I mean no harm, I'm not here to hurt anyone, I'm just Seth's friend. Nessa's too I guess. I'm not dangerous and I don't want any trouble."

There were dozens of ears listening in and every one of the mental thoughts that went with each pair of ears was telling me to go carefully. I agreed. "That's good to know Riley, but forgive me for being cautious and anxious about you. There are children here who aren't as well equipped to look after themselves as I am and I need to protect them. I'd like to just believe that you mean no harm, I really would, but I need to make sure before you are invited in. Alright?"

He scrubbed at the back of his neck, just like Seth did when he was stressed, and mumbled a 'yeah, alright'.

"You know what I am?" I asked and he nodded. "You've known my kind before?" again he nodded. "Has Seth told you what he is?"

"Yeah, shifter, but just to a wolf, right Seth?" he said then looked to Seth who was nodding furiously.

"And you Riley, what are you?" I asked, eager now to finally know.

He looked to Seth again and although I could tell from Seth's thoughts what this boy actually was I needed to hear it from his own lips. He seemed to think on it before returning his gaze to mine. "I'm a shifter too, but I can shift to anything I want. Animals that is, only animals."

"Well I'll be..." I trailed off. I'd heard it in his thoughts, and Seth's too of course, but hearing it out loud was another thing entirely. There was furious whispering and twittering going on in the house and in the grounds where I'd posted the others. Everyone was eager to see this boy for themselves and to learn more about him. "Any animal?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, I've never tried a monkey or an elephant or anything but I believe even that's possible."

"What do you know about your changing state?" I hedged, wondering if he knew his scent disappeared and that his human thoughts went with it when he shifted.

"How do you mean?" he asked. "I only know what my parents have told me, and other shifters."

That there were others was fascinating. "Has Seth told you that I can read your thoughts when you're in your human form?" His eyes widened then and I got my answer without him needing to say it. "I guess that's a no," I chuckled. "Nessa can too, that's why she spoke to you the way she did today. Although we are quite different, she can choose to read from you, I can't escape it I'm afraid."

'_You can read my thoughts?' _he asked internally.

"I can," I proved by answering. "But I don't think I can when you're an animal. At least, I think that's how I lost you on the island and then again the woods by the school that day. Is that right?" I asked.

He hung his head and thought that he should feel sorry for that, for having 'tricked' me. It was rather nice, the way he thought about it. That his 'gift' for shifting was deceptive and could have either hurt my feelings or bothered me. Of course it had bothered me, but as unsure as I was about this boy at the moment that wasn't something I wanted to disclose.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to deceive you, or worry you or your mate that day. I just thought it better to get out of there, that's all. So you can't read me after I've shifted?" he asked.

"It doesn't seem so, no. Nessa won't be able to either, I'd wager."

"Hmmm, good to know," he chuckled carefully. "I haven't really given you much reason to trust me so far, have I?" he asked.

It was an interesting question. One that Nessa answered in her thoughts for me. _'Daddy we didn't tell Riley what we were either, please don't be cross with him, he's nice,'_ she said pleadingly.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her innocence. "Nessa has just pointed out that I too have been deceptive. And I'm not cross with Riley darling," I said facing upwards for her benefit.

Riley looked to the sky, wondering to whom I was speaking. "She can hear you?" he asked.

"She can. We have exceptional hearing, as do you if I've guessed correctly?" He nodded but said nothing out loud. "Speed too, right?" I asked and he again concurred. "Are you immortal?"

"Define immortal," he chuckled.

"Mmm," I mumbled. "It is an interesting concept. We don't age, Seth either, but the children age rapidly until they are of age. We can, however be killed, though it isn't easy. Is your situation similar then?"

"Yeah, I grew fast too, about three times what humans did. Made things hard to be normal. Seth told me Nessa is the same, poor kid. As for being killed, it's been done before, but it's not easy either," he chuckled. He was sounding me out, as I was him.

I could hear the others becoming impatient inside and decided it was time to invite him in. He'd been truthful and had disclosed all the information I'd asked of him, keeping nothing back. Not even once he knew I could read his thoughts. He was exactly what he appeared to be. A shifter, a man, truthful and no danger to us as far as I could see. Alice was blind because of his half nature, so the call was mine to make alone. I did.

"The others would like to meet you too, if that's okay with you?" I asked hesitantly.

He looked to Seth who smiled a little and nodded. "They're great, really," Seth offered. "We're a bit of an eclectic bunch but like I said, we fit here," he shrugged.

"Alright then," Riley nodded and allowed me to lead him into the heart of the family.

**BPOV**

It was obvious that he was scared or nervous or both. We were an imposing group at the best of times but now there were a dozen wolves – and even in their human form they were massive and quite intimidating – and six visitors to contend with too. It was no surprise that Riley found the whole experience overwhelming.

Edward made quick introductions and then we all lined the living room to get down to the business of getting to know our latest supernatural being.

He really was rather sweet. Very respectful, especially to Edward, and Carlisle who I'm sure he'd been clued up on as being the head of this coven. Sam was quite reserved but not unfriendly and the rest of the pack followed his lead. They lined the glass stairs, as usual, and only added to the conversation when something pertained to the shifting part of Riley's nature. I could guess that most of them were rather envious of him, being able to shift forms into whatever he chose, while they were stuck with only being wolves. They looked content, not worried or on edge, so I tried to relax a little too.

I was aware that Nessa and Angel were still upstairs in the top bedroom. I knew they would be allowed down at some point. After all, Nessa attended school with Riley and he'd never posed a threat to her there at all.

"Edward, can the girls come down now?" I whispered to him as he traced soft circles across my shoulder from where he sat beside me.

He looked to Rosie who obviously deferred to his judgement by raising her hands and leaving the choice to him. "I guess so," he whispered back. "Nessa, Angel, would you like to come and meet our new friend?" he asked in a level voice from his seat.

"Coming daddy!" Nessa trilled excitedly before both the little girls came tumbling down the stairs at a rate of knots. They rushed past the wolves who all reached out to tickle them as they went by, and then they ran into the middle of the room and stopped right at Riley's feet. "I told you we were friendly," she giggled at him.

"You called it Ness," he said with a friendly chuckle. "Who's your friend?" he asked nodding to Angel.

Nessa stepped back a little and pushed Angel forward. "This is my cousin Angel, Angel this is Riley. He's special, like us," she said matter of factly.

Angel put her hand out for him to shake and when he did she bobbed her head a little and giggled lightly. "Hello Riley," she whispered. "You make a very nice doggie," she giggled again and withdrew her hand.

Riley stared at her wide eyed for a few seconds before getting to his feet. "I have to go," he announced suddenly. "I have to go," he all but whimpered as he turned pleading eyes to Seth then Edward in turn.

Edward leapt to his feet then, startling me, and was at Riley's side in a heartbeat. He put his hand to the boys shoulder and looked down into his eyes. "It's alright, I'll take you home," he said firmly.

I didn't understand and it was obvious that nobody else did either.

"Edward?" I asked.

He merely shook his head and I took that to mean 'not now' so I sat back and held my arms out for Nessa, who ran to me instantly. Angel was, by now, on her own mother's lap, her head buried in Rosie's shoulder. Nessa looked at her, then Edward, then Riley and then she climbed up on my lap and placed her hand to my cheek. She replayed Angel and Riley's meeting for me and then settled up against my side.

Carlisle rose as Edward ushered Riley towards the door. "Is there something I need to know?" he asked of Edward.

"When I get home," Edward said firmly and took a shaken Riley back through the front door and out into the drive.

We all sat silently, nobody knowing quite what to say or where to look for now. the meeting seemed to go flawlessly. There was no animosity and the good nature of the two little girls seemed to only lift the friendly atmosphere, rather than detract from what could've been a very serious situation. It was baffling that Riley would seem so at ease amongst us but when we added the two children he tensed, seemed to pale, and then fled I what looked like abject terror. It made no sense at all.

The Aston roared to life and as it made its way out of the driveway the house erupted.

"What do you think the problem is?" Emmett.

"He looked like he was going to puke," Paul.

"Has Angel met him before?" Esme

"What's that about him being a dog?" Eleazar.

"Can you see him?" Carlisle asked of Alice who shook her head.

"Can you affect him?" Alice asked of Jasper who shook his.

"How many more do you think there are like him?" Randall.

So many questions and not a single answer to one of them did we have. That was until Nessa broke away from me and cleared her throat.

"Is Riley the puppy you were playing with after school Angel?" she asked of her cousin who merely shrugged, making Rosie gasp. "And was he the owl too?" Nessa asked.

"It was a secret Nessie, you pinkie promised," Angel whined.

Nessa wasn't to be deterred. "Some promises need to be broken," she said very tersely then continued on. "And the turtle? And the bunny and I bet he was the frog too, wasn't he?" she asked.

"You promised!" Angel cried, her face shocked. "You promised you wouldn't tell Nessa."

"Can you talk to him, when he's an animal?" Carlisle asked as he got to the floor in front of Rosie and Angel. "When he's being a doggy can you talk to him, in your mind, without having to talk out loud, little one?" he asked hurriedly.

"Yes Pa, I can," Angel said forlornly. "But he never answered me. I can hear him when he's an animal. I talk to him but he doesn't talk back. At first I didn't think he understood me, but when he was a doggie I asked him to roll over and he did. When he was a turtle I asked him to swim away then come back and he did." She turned in her mother's arms and faced Rosie. "I'm sorry mommy, I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I thought you'd be cross. I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers and I know all about nasty dogs who might want to hurt me."

She was near to tears now but Rosie was open mouthed and shocked at her admission.

"Rosie," Emmett said quietly as he too made his way to the armchair where his wife and daughter sat. "Rosie," he said gently as he put his hand on her forearm.

"It's alright baby girl," Rosie said finally. "I understand, but you should have told me. I might have been cross but you still should have told me," she told the now pouting little girl. She kissed Angel's temple and that seemed to smooth over their differences, if only temporarily.

Emmett turned to Eleazar. "What do you make of this?" he asked.

Everyone looked to Eleazar, who was now smiling rather smugly. "It's true that I didn't know Eric very well, but it seems she may have inherited his gift."

Emmett nodded bleakly. "I thought so," he huffed.

I watched as husband and wife looked sadly into one another's eyes. They didn't want this. They wanted Angel to be 'normal', a regular freak like they were. I knew this already. They'd talked to us about it when they first brought Angel home and again at her christening when Eleazar confirmed he could see no discernable gift within her.

Rosie was the first to smile and Emmett followed soon after. He kissed his daughter at her temple, then his wife, and sat at their feet. "Well then, I guess you are extra special little one," he told a now smiling Angel. "What did Nessa show you Bell's?" he asked me.

"Just the meeting between the two girls and Riley Em, nothing else," I told him, then looked down to Nessa.

I too had thought it odd that she'd showed me that again. There didn't seem to be much in it and Riley's reactions had been very strange as he'd been introduced to Angel. Especially if, now it seemed, they'd actually met before.

"Why did you show mommy that specifically?" I asked Nessa.

She looked sheepish and for the life of me I couldn't work out why.

**Romania**

During the months since Eleazar's return to the United Stated Ana silently seethed.

Watching what was left of her family rebuild their lives, and find their mates, made her ache infinitesimally more for her lost husband and lover. She had no confidante; she had no one to share her worries and nobody to hunt with. There was no joy to be found inside the castle walls and the outside world held no intrigue or value to her either. Just how alone she really was was punctuated by the happiness her niece and nephew had found for themselves.

It never occurred to Ana to take another mate. The thought of disrespecting Vladimir that way was abhorrent to her. Her marriage vows had been very, very important to her and despite what she was she intended to keep them. She'd only ever loved Vladimir and intended to continue to, despite his absence. She felt she owed it to him.

The castle now teemed with newborns and the scent of love constantly lingered in the air. In every alcove, every suite above the first floor, in the woods and in the town the aroma of lust and love permeated everything, including Ana's loathing. It fed her far more satisfyingly than any human blood ever could. She ingested it, used the happiness around her to fuel her hatred of all things Cullen.

They had taken from her everything that she had known and loved for centuries and in its place there was only resentment. The revulsion she felt when she thought of her family being slaughtered was so acute, so palatable that when she could go no longer without feeding she would tear into the flesh of whoever her hapless victim was with such frenzy that her bloodlust began to get out of even her control.

She took to the habits of her nephew and would fly through the night to the little village that housed the prison farm and from there she took the wretches and waifs, strays and thieves that could find work nowhere else. Night after night, for a month straight, she gorged herself on the blood that flowed from societies scum. She wasn't discriminate, she didn't pick and choose, she took opportunities where they presented themselves and never once gave thought to who it was she was slaughtering. Fathers, daughters, brothers, sisters, mother's aunt or uncle mattered not. She just needed to vent the pain and anguish she felt, to assuage the anger and the building resentment she was feeling on anything and anyone she could find.

Within her rose the strength of a newborn. It returned to her as she glutted herself on human after human, discarding their carcasses once spent, but keeping with her their strength.

She was sloppy too.

She left bodies strewn about the forest, often leaving Raul and Dom to clean up her messes. Goran, Raul's new enforcer, was often given the task of cremating the bodies and although he was happy to do it, the situation was getting out of hand.

With so many newborns, and Ana's disinterest in keeping the secret, it was left to Raul to try to reason with his aunt. He was happy that she'd begun to feed on her own again but he couldn't abide the manner in which she was going about it.

He was doing his best to stick to his new found resolution to preserve human life and found it difficult to stay on his chosen path when all about him was carnage for carnages sake.

Ana raged at him, flew at him, teeth bared and hissing menacingly when he begged her to curb her anger and her thirst. She was five times his age in this life and yet she was behaving more erratically than his newborn guard. He tried reasoning, begging, bribery and in a last desperate attempt he threatened her. It was all for nothing.

Raul met with Dom and the guard regularly to devise some plan, a course of action that would free them from Ana's hasty impulses, but nothing worked. Raul was at a loss as to what to do.

When the body of an Egyptian tourist was discovered in a lane way at the rear of the castle grounds by one of the human kitchen hands Raul confronted his aunt once again. His rage knew no bounds. He accused, begged, roared and seethed at his aunt for threatening the lives of what was left of the family and all those who now shared their secret way of life. Ana ignored all that he said and sat silently in her window seat, watching the buses arrive and leave as they always did.

Raul, in despair, sent Daria to speak with their aunt but she too was met with a wall of indifference and silence.

Raul tried once more. He crept up to his aunts chambers in the dead of night and begged her to rethink her actions. The life they led wasn't perfect, but it was all they had. They had each other and nothing more. He begged her to feed as she had when his father and his uncle had been alive, pleading with her to be more cautious, to exercise self control, to not threaten the peace and happiness both he and Daria had found since their return from America.

Finally Ana nodded bleakly and promised that she would rectify the situation.

With this Raul had to be satisfied.

He left her where she always was, on the window seat overlooking the courtyard and went back to his Amelia.

The next morning, when no body had been found drained and lifeless anywhere near the castle or the woods Raul went to his aunts rooms to thank her for her change of heart.

Her rooms were empty.

On the small table, beside her family bible, sat a hand written note addressed to both Raul and Daria.

Upon reading it Raul sent out such an inhuman cry that his guard, Amelia, Dom and Daria burst into the room demanding to know what was wrong.

He held the note aloft and with wide, sad eyes, informed them that their aunt had left them. She could no longer stand the happiness that permeated the castle walls and had fled to the north.

**EPOV**

The boy was in danger of going into shock and I had known instantly that he meant what he said. He needed to leave, now.

So I ushered him from the house as quickly as I could and into the Aston. I peeled out of that driveway at a good clip, spewing gravel up from the back tyres as I sped away, towards Port Angeles.

"I don't know where you live," I told the trembling lad.

"Just drive, I can't go home," he rasped between his clenched teeth.

"It'll be alright," I tried to soothe him, but I knew he didn't believe me.

And so I drove. I went in the direction of the school out of habit and soon found myself in the staff carpark as Riley emptied the contents of his stomach onto the back wheel of my beloved car. I stood uselessly by and patted his back as he heaved up and up.

This was shock. Shock and fear.

I knew this well.

I'd gone through it myself. Albeit a little less violently and I certainly had nothing to cough up when the shock had hit me, but none the less I knew how he felt.

I doubted he knew what was going on, just like I hadn't at the time, and I knew that it was going to fall to me to explain it to him. Just as I had with Seth.

Riley had imprinted on my niece.

When he was done heaving I took him into the administration building and sat him in the visitors chair opposite my desk. I put a cup of tea into his hands and put a box of tissues onto the desk in front of him.

When he had calmed as much as he was likely to I began to explain what had happened to him. I called on the kind words Carlisle had imparted all those years ago when I'd first met the child Bella and hoped that I was doing a good job for Riley. I did my best to remain calm about it even though I knew that my brother and sister were likely to be just as upset about it as Bella had been.

To his credit he took it quite well. He retched into my trash can only once during my explanation and by the time we'd talked for two hours straight he had his head around what had just occurred.

After he'd calmed I talked him into going home. It had taken some reasoning but eventually he agreed. I knew, from experience, that his imprinting on Angel was going to tie him into knots when he couldn't be near her but he just didn't believe it. He was more worried about his parents reaction to his association with vampires than the agony that was about to befall him.

I'd learned from his thoughts that he'd been with Angel on numerous occasions in the time since he'd moved to Port Angeles. He'd 'met' her in animal form each time and although he'd enjoyed her presence he'd seen her as just a happy little girl with an unusual affinity for animals. He had no idea about her father and what he'd been able to do with his mind but it hadn't taken me long to work out that Angel hadn't been actually speaking with him as an animal but rather she was communicating with him wholly in her mind. He hadn't understood it at the time and I doubted he did now either, he just saw her as another 'not normal' child, just as he viewed Nessa and himself.

I'd often wondered if Angel was going to exhibit signs of having any part of her father's gift and despite Eleazar's assertions that he couldn't see or feel anything from her he was never willing to completely rule it out either. Not like he had with other vampires. He never actually said she didn't have a gift and now that made sense to me. She had a gift but it had been dormant. He could feel something; just not quantify what it was.

For now it was enough of a shock for Riley that he'd imprinted on a child, a half vampire child no less. What she was capable of would come later.

Riley was sure that he could fight what he felt, sure that if he kept his distance he'd deal with it and it would be like any other crush he'd ever had. He understood imprinting and the processes it took – it seems that we weren't all that different, the wolves, vampires and shape shifters in that regard – but he simply wasn't willing to believe the pain he was going to go through without her in his life.

He was determined to fight the process, disgusted with himself for reacting to a child, but I knew better. There was no way to fight it. No way to put it aside. No way to escape it. It was all consuming and whilst he struggled against it it would be worse, in the end, for him and for Angel.

As I drove towards his house he began to think about his parents and what they were likely to make of this turn of events. I wanted, desperately, to meet with them, but knew it wasn't the right time.

As he exited the car I told him I'd be there when he was ready and although in his thoughts he didn't think he'd ever be ready, or need me, I knew that he would. He'd need us all to get through this.

He waved, forlornly, as he entered the house and I drove off back towards the big house.

**Renesmee POV**

Everyone is cross with me. Mommy is worried about Angel and Riley and Seth even though Riley is a nice boy and hadn't done anything wrong at all while he visited with us.

Aunty Rosie is worried about Angel too and Uncle Emmett is worried about Angel AND Riley.

Pa and Nana-Ne keep looking at me and then at Aunty Rosie. I can tell from Pa's thoughts that he _knows_ why Riley left so fast, but Nana-Ne has no idea, but she wants to know.

I know because I was being naughty and reading from him as he met Angel. She's his now, like Seth is mine.

Seth sat on the floor in front of me but he was very quiet. He wasn't cross with me for what I said to Riley in the pool house, but he was sorry that his friend was worried and confused and sad now. That made me feel bad. I'd upset Riley and that had upset my Seth. I put my hand on his warm brown shoulder and he turned and smiled at me, but it wasn't his normal smile. He still looked sad.

Seth understood too. I think he saw Riley's reaction to Angel and he just knew. I remember the way he'd looked at me the day I was born and it was exactly the way Riley looked at Angel. So Sethy knew.

Everyone was just waiting for daddy to come back after dropping Riley off. Nobody said too much of anything but I could tell they all had plenty to say.

I knew what would happen when daddy came home. Angel and I would be asked to go upstairs to our rooms while the adults talked about things they thought we were too little, or too stupid, to understand. But they were wrong. Angel and I both understood plenty.

Angel knew what happened to Riley when she stood in front of him. She knew that he was hers now, like Seth was mine. Riley knew it too; he just didn't want to believe it. But Angel knew and she liked it. She liked that she was like her daddy Eric and that she'd gotten a piece of his gift inside her. It made her feel special and it made her feel good that she could talk to Riley when nobody else could. She was happy that she was a little bit like me now. Seth could talk to me without anyone else knowing what he said and Angel and Riley could talk to each other the same way. It made her feel good so I didn't understand why Seth was sad or why everyone else was nervous.

I needed to talk to Angel about it and she really wanted to talk to me about it too, but we knew better than to go off on our own right now. We'd wait until we were asked to leave the room, then we'd whisper about it while the adults were all busy talking to each other.

It was always the same. Angel would think about needing to talk to me and once we were alone she'd wait until I nodded, letting her know that the adults were busy and not listening for us, and then we'd pretend to be playing dolls. Out loud we'd be talking about their outfits or their hair, but on the inside she was thinking at me what she needed to tell me. I'd wait until the adults were all talking about other things and then I'd whisper my answers to Angel. It worked really well.

I knew all Angel's secrets and she knew all of mine.

She knew that I loved Seth and that Seth loved me. She knew that I listened to a lot of things I shouldn't and she knew that I sometimes lied about it to my parents.

In turn I knew that she had talked to Riley when he was a dog, a turtle and once as a doe in the forest. I knew that she had hidden her gift from her mommy and daddy because I'd told her how they felt about her being as normal as possible. She told me how her gift worked and that she'd tried to hide it from Eleazar when he visited. I didn't know if a gift could be hidden from him, but she told me that she was careful not to talk to _any_ animals when he was visiting.

Daddy arrived home and I could see from his face that he was very upset with me. Mommy kissed his cheek and he put his big hand onto Uncle Emmett's shoulder before he came to me. Seth moved away as daddy got onto his knees on the floor. He tapped his temple and I tapped mine, knowing what was coming.

I closed my eyes and balled my fist at my side as I dropped my shield so he could read from me.

'_What you did today was dangerous Renesmee,'_ he said. I knew he was cross, but he used my full name and I couldn't help but let my tears come out. '_Lucky for you, and for us, Riley is a nice boy who means us no harm. But, you weren't to know that when you exposed yourself, and us. There will be consequences but we'll talk about those at home, later.'_

I didn't hesitate to tell him how sorry I was but he shook his head and got up without telling me anything else from his brain. "Take your cousin and go upstairs Nessa, the adults have some things to talk about," he said sadly.

"Yes daddy," I told him and pulled Angel up out of her seat and along with me up the stairs.

**EPOV**

Rosie's reaction was predictable, Emmett's was not.

Rose was on her feet, pacing, growling, hissing and spitting out hateful words within seconds of me telling them that their daughter had been imprinted on by a full blooded shape shifter name Riley Stone.

The loudest gasp came from Esme as the new information was digested by the family, and our guests. I could tell from Eleazar that the emergence of Angel's gift had come as a shock, he'd not known prior to today's revelations. Randall was sympathetic to Rose and Emmett but unable to see 'the big deal', which made him useless as Rose continued to roar and shout her displeasure at the unfolding drama.

Intelligently Eleazar dragged the visitors out of the house, including the wolves who were eager to get back to the Rez and inform the elders of the arrival of yet another group of supernatural beings. Seth stayed put.

"How can you say that it's done?" Rose bellowed at me, not for the first time, hands clutching the front of my shirt as her pain flowed from her lips. "She's just a baby," she rasped. "We've only just got her ourselves," she cried, echoing Bella's same thoughts and anger from the day Nessa was born.

"I'm sorry Rosie," I told her, and I was. I was sorry that her and Emmett were going to tread the same path Bella and I had. Sorry that their child was going to be important to someone else before they'd even had a chance to have her for themselves for any significant length of time. I was sorry that they were helpless to prevent it and sorry that Riley seemed determined to try to ignore what I knew to be true.

Riley and Angel were bonded. There could be no doubt. Angel was as sure as Nessa was that Seth was who she wanted. I'd read it from the little girl the instant Riley had come face to face with her as a human. She'd been completely in control and completely sure. There could be no doubting it. I didn't tell Rose or Em that, that knowledge would come out in time, but that time wasn't now.

"I don't want you to be sorry!" Rose bellowed. "I want Riley out of that school. I want him gone from the area. I want him dead!" she screeched.

The two little girls upstairs stopped their ridiculous pretend playing instantly, Angel bursting into tears and Nessa shouting her disapproval at her aunt mentally.

Esme gasped and Bella got to her feet instantly but it was Emmett who took control of the situation.

He'd not said a word, verbally, since I'd returned to the house. He listened to everything, took everything in, but made no comment, until now.

He grasped Rose by her shoulders and turned her so that she was facing him squarely. "Stop," he whispered softly. Rose blinked hard and her thoughts began to race, trying to decide what profanity to lead with, but Emmett didn't give her a chance. "You have to stop this Rose. Our daughter is upstairs and she can hear every word. You will stop this right now, for her," he said firmly.

He'd never been firm with her before, not that I could remember. He might have been in private, but never in front of the family. He was always very jovial, happy to go along with whatever Rose wanted or needed, never really voicing a discordant opinion, but now he was very clear. Rose looked at her husband with barely concealed hatred, but nodded minutely all the same.

Emmett took her hands and held them in his. "She's ours Rosie. She is. But it's okay that she's going to be his one day too, because it's inevitable. It really is. It's what we should want for her. To be loved. To be adored, doted on, like we want for her. I don't know this kid but I know how imprinting works. He'll never hurt her, always protect her and he'd die in her stead. She's ours, and the families, and his. Its done babe, it is. I know you hate that, but it is. She might not have come into this world as ours, but she's here now and she is, so we gotta love her as much as we can before she's grown and making her own way. We share her already, with everyone; someone who loves her – who can't not love her – will only make it better for her. She's ours Rosie. I promise you, she's ours."

I'd never heard Emmett like this, nor seen Rosie like this as she listened. The fight left her fast. Her shoulders slumped and she sobbed into his chest when he was done. She'd not do what Bella had done. Thank god.

"I need to take my girls home for a bit, excuse us please," Emmett said quietly. Rose ran up the stairs at an amazing speed and came back with a crying Angel in her arms.

Emmett threw me a weak smile and nodded at the others but Rosie didn't look back as she ran home with their daughter in her arms.

Nobody had really said too much so far and the house became quieter still as everyone in it tried to make sense of what had happened here today.

"Bella, it's time for us to go home too," I told my wife who sat rigid on the sofa beside a stunned Seth. "Bella," I called softly, startling her. "We should take Nessa home."

She nodded once and did as Rosie had done, coming back down the stairs with Nessa's hand in hers. "We'll see you in the morning," she whispered and kissed Esme softly on the cheek and accepted a kiss to the temple from both Carlisle and Jasper. Alice folded her into a tight hug and patted Nessa's curls.

Carlisle wished us well in his thoughts and Esme held her hand to her heart as I followed my family out through the glass doors and away to the cottage.

It was going to be a long night.

**BPOV**

I knew exactly how Rose felt. I knew the pain she'd be feeling. I understood the panic, the part of your brain that told you to take your child and flee into the night and leave it all behind. I knew what it was to want to destroy the one person that had the power to take from you what you'd only just gotten for yourself.

I'd said the same things, reacted the same way, been frightened and sad and angry all at the same time and I knew exactly how she was feeling and yet there was nothing I could do for her. As there had been nothing she could've done for me at the time.

Seth seemed as shocked as I was. He sat quietly on the piano stool in the living room, his head in his hands, while I got Nessa through her shower and into her pyjamas.

Edward was in the courtyard, pacing.

He'd made a hundred futile laps in the short time that I was busy with Nessa and the sound of his shoes as they crunched on the flagstones made my skin crawl. I had no idea what he was thinking, what about this situation was bothering him so much or how to find that out without doing it in front of my children.

When Nessa was dressed and her hair dry enough in the towel I brushed it out for her and sent her to the living room to Seth while I went to Edward.

"Edward?" I called softly from the door off our bedroom.

"One more minute," he huffed and continued his pacing.

I left him to his thoughts and went into the cottage to wait. Nessa was quick to crawl into my lap once I'd settled myself in the chair by the hearth. She cuddled into me and closed her eyes, feigning sleep, probably hoping this whole mess would go away if she blocked it out.

True to his word Edward was with us in one minute. He stood in front of the fireplace, fists balled at his sides and his brows furrowed. I waited for him to break the silence, my eyes looking from him to Seth.

"Is Riley alright?" Nessa whispered from under my chin.

Edward sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "He will be," is all he said.

I scowled at him and he raised his eyebrows at me. His answer in no way answered the question and I knew it hadn't put Nessa's mind at ease because her trembling increased after he'd said it.

"Is Riley alright?" I asked my husband firmly.

"He's fine. Confused, but fine," Edward relented.

"What happens now?" Seth asked in as quiet a whisper as Nessa had.

Edward took two long legged paces towards the trembling boy and unleashed a rant the likes of which I'd never heard come from his lips. "What happens now is that you're on guard duty twenty-four seven. I don't want Nessa alone, ever. I don't want there to be any part of any day, no minute in any hour, hell, no second of any minute that she's without one of us close enough to touch her. If anyone even smells off, weird, unusual, fuck if anyone even smells like they ate something you can't identify I want to know who where when and from which direction they approached her. If you get a gut feeling I want to know. If you hear something not right I want to know. If someone looks at her too long I want to know when and who, no exceptions," he raged.

I'd never seen him like this, this panicked. The situation didn't warrant this. This would cripple Nessa, and Seth. She'd never feel normal again if Edward got his way. She'd forever feel coddled, cut off from friends and humans; there would be no chance for her to lead even some semblance of a normal life. Seth either. If Edward was serious Seth would be nothing more than a sentry, a guard for Nessa.

"Edward, please, that's ridiculous. You can't mean that," I begged.

He stalked towards me, fire in his eyes, and shook his head at me violently. He'd dismissed me totally. He licked his lower lip and turned back to Seth as if I wasn't even in the room. "No friends over, not here, not at the big house, and not at the Rez while Nessa is there. When she eats at school you eat, when she goes to the bathroom you go too. I want you outside the door until she's within arm's reach again. No more running to school. No more truck. You take the Guardian or you come with Bella or me from now on, I don't care who asks questions. You will keep a cell phone on you at all times, no excuses. I don't want to hear any crap about it being out of charge or out of range, you stay in range and you keep it charged. I don't want Nessa in the woods without an adult ever again. I don't want her hunting without one of us three with her, ever. I don't want you going through the woods to Rosie's without one of us with you Renesmee. You can't run through the path anymore at night. No more going to the big house alone. You wait until one of us can go with you," Edward spoke so quickly I had to concentrate hard to make sense of what he was saying.

"Edward, enough," I hissed when Nessa began to really cry.

He turned his rage to me then. "No Bella, not enough," he boomed. He began to pace back and forth along the stones in front of the fireplace. "Do you have any idea the danger she was in today? Any idea how easily it could've gone wrong? How easily she could've been taken from us?" he shouted, making Nessa cringe away from the sound of his voice and bury herself further into my chest. "If Riley had've been even a small fraction less civilised than he is she could quite possibly have been gone already and there isn't a fucking thing you or I could've done about it. So no, Bella, not enough, not by a long shot," he seethed.

Seth began to shake and shiver and I knew he was seconds away from phasing, whether from anger at Edward or fear I didn't know, but he was going to lose control right there in my living room. I clutched Nessa to me harder, preparing to get up from the seat and flee with her to the other end of the house.

Before I could say anything Edward was in front of Seth, towering over him menacingly. "You will not phase in this house. Get a hold of yourself," he yelled into Seth's shocked face.

"Edward!" I shouted at the same time that Nessa shouted 'daddy'.

He turned to us and scowled then turned back to Seth. "Get yourself together," he hissed again. "Man up," he told the stricken boy. "You're a senior now, you want to be treated like a man then act like one. Accept your mistakes and accept the tasks I set you. You want to be with Nessa, with us, then you have to get some control over your physical responses. If I can master my thirst you can control yourself."

I'd never been so shocked in my life. I'd never been as utterly enraged at anyone as I was at Edward in that moment. He was totally out of line. Using Seth's need to phase against him was the highest insult. Saying he'd conquered his thirst, and that Seth should be able to conquer his body's natural reaction to stress, was obscene. He'd crossed a boundary just now and I didn't expect Seth to stay on his side of it for much longer. If he did I wouldn't.

I stood, taking Nessa with me. I put her on her feet and held her by the shoulders. "I want you to run to Aunty Rosie's, alright little one?" I asked her. She looked from me to Edward then back, tears in her eyes. I could tell she was struggling with the decision. Her father had just forbade her from doing just what I was insisting, he'd put her in an impossible position.

"You will not," he roared, making her cry harder.

I stood away from her then. I smiled down at her and nodded towards the front door. "You go darling, mommy will be five minutes behind you, I promise."

She looked to her father once again and then fled. She was so fast now I doubted that I'd be able to catch her up at full stretch.

I counted to ten then turned back to the centre of the room. Seth was so close to phasing I could actually see the feint shimmer as he fought it. His skin seemed to ripple with it, as though he was trying to repel his human self. I stayed on the far side of the room, up against the piano, and counted another ten.

Then, "Go Seth," I told him firmly.

He wasted no time and was on his feet. The sound of his clothing shredding itself as he phased hit my ears in less than a heartbeat once he was through the front door. I knew that Nessa would be more than halfway to Emmett's by now, well clear of the explosive showdown that was now more than likely going to play out in my home.

Seth's howl shook the windows of the cottage and made Edward slip into his crouch.

I rounded on him and let the hiss escape my lips without censure. Edward was wrong. Plain wrong.

"You dare to hiss at me?" he seethed.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. He wanted me compliant? He wanted to dominate me? Stand over me? Did he expect me to call him master from now on? I fought the urge to crouch myself; instead standing at my tallest, showing him that he couldn't intimidate me. I ignored his question and spoke freely, unafraid of him. "If you harm a hair on that boys head I'll never forgive you," I told him honestly. "You've gone too far Edward."

If anything this added fuel to the already raging fire behind his eyes. "I've gone too far? I've gone too far?" he bellowed, venom flying from the corners of his mouth. "It's not far enough if it means she's protected."

He slipped further into his crouch, making me stand impossibly taller, defying him at every turn. I would not be intimidated; I would not let him see weakness in me. "I want her protected too, but you want to smother her. You'll break her Edward."

"No, I want her to survive," he countered.

Venom dripped from his lips, smattering down the front of his shirt, the silvery liquid falling in droplets onto the rug at his feet. He shook all over, his fury bunching the muscles on his shoulders and making the veins in his neck bulge horribly. He looked feral. He looked dangerous.

"You should go," I whispered. "Run, hunt, do whatever you need to do to get control over yourself," I told him sternly.

"Me? Me?" he shouted whilst pointing to his own chest. "I need to go until I can control myself?" he asked indignantly. "Oh that's rich. I've got a daughter who won't stop reading people's minds no matter how many times I tell her not to. She put herself and all of us in grave danger today because she thought that Riley might be 'fun'," he raged, making the quotation marks with his fingers. "Then I've got Seth who simply drove the boy home, just like that, no questions asked. And now, when I point out what's required of him, he goes all soft and needs to phase and it's _me_ who needs to control myself? And you, you of all people, are calling me out? I don't think so Bella. I don't fucking think so."

Now I was getting angry. I'd never seen him like this before, this unreasonable. I didn't like it and I didn't trust it. "Okay, mistakes were made today, that's obvious, but everyone is fine and there's been no harm done. There is no need for this. You need to calm down and talk to me, to her, to Seth." I put my hands out to him but he flinched away.

He licked his lips again, bringing forth more venom, he had no intention of calming down. "Mistakes cost lives," he hissed.

"Mistakes happen," I whispered then regretted it instantly as he grabbed me by the shoulders. His movement was so fast he was a blur as he tightened his grip on me.

"Yes, they do," he said menacingly. "Leaving her unguarded was a mistake. Entrusting her safety to another child was a mistake. Having her anywhere near Angel was a mistake. Having her at your mother's daycare to learn to be human was a mistake. Having her at my school was a mistake. Having you oversee her daily routine was lunacy. You're barely a vampire yourself, you can't protect her." His voice was so loud I could hear animals in the forest that surrounded us running from it.

In the half minute it took for him to say it I experienced some of the worst pain of my short existence. He didn't trust Seth or my mother to take care of our daughter. He didn't trust _me _to take care of our daughter. How much that hurt me would never be calculated. I wasn't his equal and I never really had been.

Loving someone didn't make one right and one wrong. It should never mean that if one half was strong that meant the other was weak. But this, his using my 'newness' to castigate me cut me like a knife straight to the heart.

That he didn't want her near Angel hurt almost as much. His own niece, his own brother and sisters child. An innocent. Like Nessa. Born into this god forsaken world in the worst possible way and thrust into this family without choice. I loved that little girl with all my heart. Everyone did. I had never thought of her as anything other than what she was, a child for us all to love. He'd spoken of her just now as though she'd brought with her some sort of curse and I hated him for it.

"Get out," I whispered taking a small step away from him.

He towered over me seething, hissing and growling but I wouldn't budge. There was no reasoning with him when he was like this. He wasn't rational and I didn't want to be anywhere near him when he was like this.

He began to move towards me so I backed up until my shoulders were up against the archway that led down the hall and into our bedroom. His eyes were coal black and he was breathing heavily in through his nose and out through his mouth, his venom washing over my face with each forced breath. The cords in his neck stood out starkly and his fists were clenched hard as they landed on the drywall on either side of my face. He'd done this to me before, when I'd kept the letter from the council from him. We'd promised never to do it again and he'd broken that promise to me.

He slammed his fist into the wall, showering us both with plaster dust. I didn't flinch. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "You want me gone, I'm gone," he growled.

He licked his bottom lip just once then fled.

I wasted no time and made good on my promise to Renesmee. I ran towards Rosie's home in the woods, my cell phone dialling the Rez as I ran.

**EPOV**

I'd never felt anger like it. Not when I'd witnessed Jake's hands on Bella, not when James held my mewling daughter in his filthy hands, not when I'd faced Stephan and not even when I'd stared down Vladimir.

White hot rage filled my every thought. I tasted fury in my own venom. Every muscle, every pore of my body was encased in it. It overwhelmed me.

I'd run so far I'd lost all thought to where I was running to. I had no bearing of where I was, no marker to tell me how to return, no thought to if and when I would. I'd just run.

The crushing pain in my chest eventually slowed me, though I jogged another hundred miles while it clawed at me from the inside.

Bella's cavalier attitude to Nessa's wellbeing had shaken me. Her denial of the truth I was speaking cut me to the quick. There was nothing more precious to me than Renesmee. Not even Bella. I knew this to be the truth for her to, as it should always be for parents. Renesmee came first. Always. Her safety, her happiness, her future.

It was true that living without Bella would be a half life, but I'd do it for Nessa. Bella would too. It was how it was supposed to be. A parent laid down their lives for their child. It was instinctual, untenable, uncompromising.

That Bella could argue with me on it astounded me. Shocked me. Rocked me.

I had no doubt that Riley was no threat to any of us but nobody could've known that at the start of this day. Had he been intent on hurting her he could have, quite easily. Knowing he wouldn't didn't change that. He was something other, not wolf nor a member of any pack that had loyalty to our coven. He was an unknown entity. And there were more of his kind out there.

His imprinting on Angel wouldn't change that either. Just as my imprinting on Bella wouldn't stop another vampire from attempting to harm her neither would Riley's imprinting on Angel stop another shape shifter from trying to harm her. It was the same with Nessa.

The two girls were vulnerable. I'd fought – and almost lost – my sire over that very fact. I'd waged a war to protect them. I'd killed to ensure their survival. And yet Bella said I'd gone too far.

It was unconscionable.

She was but a few years old herself to this life. Barely out of her newborn phase. She knew nothing of our kind other than what she'd been told, or shown. She had no experience protecting anyone. I'd made it so. I'd always protected her, never wanting her to have to protect me or our child.

She'd killed Jane with her own two hands but she'd had eighty vampires willing and able to step in had the need arose.

Seeing Seth struggling not to phase tonight had been the last straw for me.

He should've seen more. He shouldn't sensed more. He should've protected her. He should've kept Riley away from her today, kept him away from her until one of us could've assessed the situation. Instead he'd simply driven the boy home. It was idiocy. Anything could've come from it. Riley could've led more shape shifters to us, to her. He could've taken her, and him, then and there. I could've returned from the school today to total carnage.

I could've lost my child!

I could've lost my wife!

I could've lost my entire family today!

Oh god.

I stopped where I was and sat on the first rocky outcrop I could see. The warm winds of the south flew around me. I had no idea where I actually was, but wherever it was it was south, way south.

My internal rage had quelled as I sat, head in hands, thinking about this day. Nessa was safe, as was my wife and son. For Seth was my son as surely as I was Carlisle's son. It was my responsibility to protect him as much as it was to protect my daughter, and my wife.

That none of them could see the bullet we'd dodged today was beyond me. Were they so naive? Had I made them that way? By protecting them so thoroughly, never letting any of them feel the pain of loss or panic had I made them weak?

Was it possible that they were now complacent? Could they not see risk any longer? Had our lives become so wonderful, so rich with love and warmth that they no longer saw threats where I did?

As husband and father it was my job to keep them from harm but had I made a fundamental mistake by doing my job so well?

Did they have so much freedom now that the merest hint of losing some of it could cloud their judgement? I'd given them free reign to live their lives as they saw fit, to a point. Bella was wife, mother, teacher and vampire last now. Was the balance uneven? Should she be an ever vigilant ferocious vampire first, the other things that made her who she was coming last?

Didn't I have the right to insist upon it? Wasn't it my right to make sure she knew that her foremost priority should be Renesmee?

It seemed not. Judging by her anger tonight.

She'd implied that by protecting our daughter I'd break her. How could that be? I'd be ensuring her survival. It was what I was supposed to do. She'd be restricted, its true, but protected and surely that was the entire point of having had her in the first place? To nurture her and make sure she survived to adulthood.

I ran my hand through my hair and sat back on the rock a little further. The wind was whipping up, bringing with it scents from afar.

Deer and humans. My body ached for the hunt, my brain screamed for blood, human blood. I could smell them near too. The honey sweet sensuality of their blood called to my senses. My muscles tensed in anticipation even though I'd trained them well not to. It was, still is, and always would be an involuntary craving. My venom was strong and thick in my mouth as the wind brought the scent more strongly. My fists balled, my back arched, I hissed without realising I'd done it. I was hungry. So very hungry and so very angry.

I sprang to my feet and closed my eyes, listening for both heart beat and mental voice. There – to the east, perhaps two miles, two humans enjoying a day in the forest. There – southeast, three miles give or take, another pair. Their scent was stronger but not as alluring as the first pair.

I turned, facing the direction of the wind and inhaled deeply. I knew this torture, I knew this game, and I knew this risk. Thinking about them as prey was dangerous, but I was ultimately in control. I could toy with my cravings, I could allow them to well up just as well as I could push them down. Today I welcomed them.

Slipping into my crouch I prepared to run. The stinging intervention of my cell phone brought me back to full height and broke the mystique the humans held for me.

Alice.

"Why do I see you running through the forest tracking humans Edward?" she screeched as I flipped the silver casing open.

"I'm angry Alice, so fucking angry," I spat into the mouthpiece. "But I'm not tracking anything."

"I see you Edward, take your anger out on anything you want as long as it doesn't have a Christian name," she spat back. There was silence for half a minute and then her voice softened. "I don't know what happened, because I couldn't see you guys, but I know something did. Where are you?"

"Tillamook, I think," I told her while I looked around for a landmark. There was none.

"Jesus Edward, that's two hundred and eighty miles!" she bellowed. "What made you so angry that you had to run to Oregon?"

"I don't know that I've gone that far, I said I wasn't sure, fuck," I grumbled. "What do you want Alice?" I barked unkindly.

I heard her catch her breath at my nastiness and immediately felt sorry for having said it the way I did. "I was just worried," she whispered. "I saw you running and I saw you hunting and I got worried. I'll leave you to it, I guess," she said forlornly.

I could picture perfectly the pout on her face as she said it and instantly my anger deflated. "I'm sorry Ally, I didn't mean to snap at you. I was just so angry and was asked to leave, to run, hunt, whatever," I told her truthfully.

Her gasp told me she didn't know what had gone on in my home tonight. Bella hadn't run to the big house to whine. "She asked you to leave?" Alice almost choked on the words.

"She did," I confirmed.

"Were you being an asshole at the time?" she asked.

I ran my hand through my hair and faced into the wind again. The human scents were still there but now they held no temptation for me. I wasn't hungry for that any longer. And maybe I had been an asshole.

"Give me a couple of hours and you can call me an asshole to my face Ally, I love you little sister," I told her with a smile on my face for the first time in hours.

"Love you too big brother. See you when you get here."

With that she disconnected the call and effectively tempered the last of my anger.

I slipped the cell phone into my jeans pocket and headed for home. The rawness of my distress was gone from my limbs as I reached top speed across the forest floor.

I'd hunt closer to home, animal not human, and then try and set right what I'd done and said.

The hunting would prove to be the easier of my two self set tasks.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**For all the lovely peope who've reviewed lately (and not just this story) I promise I will reply to each and every one of you as soon as I can. **

**If you've found something of interest in this chapter please let me know. If you hate it and the inclusion of this new 'species' of the supernatural send me a line or two and tell me that too. **


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: So sorry for the confusion. **

**I had been working on this chapter with a totally different outcome involved. I forgot to cut and paste the pieces off the end I didnt want to keep. **

**I have fixed the problems and this chapter replaces the one that was uploaded today. **

**Thanks, as ever, to Najs who pointed the problem out, i'm so grateful. **

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**Chapter** 22 – A Husband's Rights

**BPOV**

Nessa had settled once I'd gotten her into her own bed. She'd been shivering with fear and worry by the time I got to Rosie's to collect her. I was met with the concerned eyes of my sister and brother as I knocked on their front door.

They'd smelled my approach, of course, and I was pulled into their living room and deposited on their sofa to explain what had gone on the second I'd been greeted.

I explained vaguely, unwilling to give details of exactly what had been said between Edward and I. They'd find out eventually, but it wasn't fair to discuss it when I hadn't even had the opportunity to speak with Edward about it yet. So I told them that we'd had a bit of a fight and he'd gone off to hunt and get his anger under control.

They looked sceptical but accepted my explanation eventually.

Nessa had been fine. She'd arrived safely and although she was shaken she'd gone off to play with her cousin without issue, knowing I would be following quickly behind her.

I called for her and took her home soon after, knowing that Rosie and Em had their own problems right now and I knew on instinct that they didn't need me in the middle of their shit anymore than I needed them in the middle of mine.

It had been a slow, quiet walk down the pathway for Nessa and I. She asked after Seth and I was glad to tell her that he was fine, tucked up in his own bed at the Rez and that he'd see her in the morning as normal.

He wasn't exactly fine, but she didn't need to know that. If he wanted her to know he'd tell her himself what he was feeling.

He was angry, so very angry at Edward. Firstly for raising his voice with Nessa in the room, and then for what he'd actually said. But Seth was like me, pragmatic but understanding and I knew that he and Edward would sort their issues out in good time. Seth seemed keen to get that part over with and to work out with Edward what was now expected of him. I wanted to tell him that nothing had changed, that he could go about his business as he always had and that protecting Nessa was our responsibility not his necessarily, but I knew he wouldn't quite see it that way. So I left it alone.

It was Edward's mess and he'd have to be the one to clean it up as far as Seth was concerned.

When Nessa was sleeping I put the cottage to rights and swept up the plaster dust in the hall. There was a clear indentation in the shape of Edward's fist but I left it there. I wanted him to see what he'd done. I wanted him to have to walk past it on the way to our bedroom. I wanted him to realise just how out of control he'd gotten.

I was in the study, getting my things ready for my next class, when I got Alice' call.

"Hey Alice," I said as cheerily as I could.

"He's run all the way to Oregon, are you guys alright?" she asked hesitantly. She obviously knew _something_ but I'd guessed that she didn't know much because Seth had been here the whole time the argument had occurred. Seth equalled blindness for Alice.

Oregon? Jesus, he was messed up bad.

"Yeah, we're fine," I told her. "You've spoken to him?"

"Just now. I saw him on the hunt and wondered why."

Whatever it was she wasn't saying bothered me, but not enough to make me spill my guts about our problems. It was our business, for now anyway. "We're fine Alice, but thanks for looking and thanks for the call."

"I can come down if you want me to, Jaz will too, you only have to ask."

"Thanks, but no," I told her firmly. "What time can I expect him do you think?" I asked.

"About one, maybe sooner depending on how fast he's running."

"I'll see you as normal tomorrow morning, right?" I asked.

"Yep, see you then sis, love you," she trilled then she was gone.

It was just after midnight so I buried my head in my lesson plans and tried not to watch the clock.

When one came and went I didn't think much of it. If he'd found some good hunting he'd have taken his time. At two I raised an eyebrow at the clock but wasn't worried. At three I called his cell, it went straight to voicemail. At four I sent him a text that went unanswered. At five I called the big house, Esme answered and said he was there and was safe. At six I greeted Seth at the front door.

He looked as though he'd slept badly, if at all. He hugged me hard and kissed my hair and to anyone else his slight hesitation as he crossed the threshold would've gone unnoticed. To me it did not.

"Is Edward here?" he asked gingerly as he looked over my shoulder and down the hall.

"No, he's out hunting," I lied.

"You okay?" he asked. I nodded because I was. "Nessa okay?" he asked.

"She's still asleep but you can go in," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow but didn't hesitate at this invitation. I listened, smile on my face, as he smoothed down the covers on her bed and laid himself down beside her. His whispered 'I missed you punkin' was the last sound before his snores rent the air.

It was rare that they shared a bed, usually only in times of great stress, but the bedraggled look of him as he'd entered the cottage made me cave instantly. He needed her like she needed him.

I was sure that he'd not given much thought to Riley being a threat to her, or to anyone, so he was probably still in shock at Edward's outburst the night before. He'd need to be close to Nessa to come to grips with that before he faced Edward again.

At seven I called my husband's cell again and this time it rang. I held my breath as the tones ticked over. Once, twice, three times then it went to voicemail. He'd stopped the call from connecting.

I gave Seth and Nessa their breakfast and made sure they were ready for school before trying his cell once more. Nothing, not even voicemail this time. He'd either turned it off or the battery was dead.

I stopped myself from shattering my cell phone on the stone floor and instead I scowled at it and slid it into my pocket.

At eight Alice and Jasper arrived for their usual visit with Nessa and by ten past Rosie, Emmett and Angel had arrived too. But no Edward.

Alice couldn't quite meet my eyes and Jasper looked pained as he sat on the sofa listening to the two little girls rabbit on about their coming day at school and daycare respectively.

Jasper volunteered to collect Nessa's backpack from her room and returned with a dark scowl on his face. He smoothed his features out as he approached the others and had a smile on his face as he helped Nessa on with her bag, but he pulled me aside at the door and asked me whose fist shape that was in the wall.

"It's nothing Jaz, I promise," I lied.

His gaze held mine a moment longer than usual but he said nothing else.

Rosie left to take Angel to my mother's as Emmett, Jasper and Alice left to go in to work. Seth looked torn as he lifted the keys to the truck from the hook beside the front door. "You go with your momma today punkin," he told a pouting Nessa.

She didn't argue though and I wondered what she was thinking as we began the run to school.

She didn't ask after Edward. She didn't look for him in the house and she ran right by the administration block and towards the playground when we arrived via the forest at the back of the school. She was either very angry with him or very conscious of the fact that I was. I'd wager a bit of both.

I wanted to go to his office to see him so badly I could feel the need to be near him prickling all along my skin as I walked across the gardens to my own office. Twice I stopped on the pathway and almost turned back to go to him. But I didn't.

He'd blocked my calls and ignored my texts. He hadn't come to see his daughter and he hadn't asked after her by any available means. He hadn't come home and he hadn't contacted me at all over night. He'd made it pretty obvious. He didn't want to be anywhere near me.

**EPOV**

I felt her before I smelled her. I knew she was near because my heart began to race. I kept to the shadows of my office and watched her walk across the pathway to her own office. She stilled twice then continued on.

I needed her, needed to feel her soft body, smell her delicious scent and taste her venom, but she'd asked me to leave and I was still too angry to make a first move as yet.

I'd stayed at the big house last night and had spent the morning hours talking with Carlisle in his study. Of course the others would've heard every word we shared but nobody made comment verbally as they went about their business as usual.

When Alice and Jasper left to go for their visit to the cottage I felt the tug of my family acutely. Not knowing if Nessa was alright, if I'd scared her badly or whether she was angry with me hurt so badly I felt it in my bones.

Knowing Bella was so near and yet so far made me ache with longing. I'd actively ignored her attempts to contact me during the night, and again this morning, unwilling to begin what I knew as going to be an explosive fight.

I'd checked with Sam, discreetly, and learned that Seth had stayed with his parents overnight and had trotted off to the cottage well before first light this morning. He would've needed Nessa close, just as I needed Bella.

The intercom on my desk sounded its annoying chirp just as Bella closed the door to her office behind her. I reluctantly returned to my desk to begin the business of the day.

By morning tea I was a mess, an even bigger mess than I'd been during the night. The cacophony of mental voices in and around the school was particularly oppressive this day. They seemed to press in on me as each hour ticked over.

I'd been short with Linda on several occasions and I'd been rude to Flick twice so far. Antony had borne the brunt of my bad temper via the telephone and I'd told Randall to fuck off when he'd called too. After that I was left alone.

When the children came out to play I moved to the windows of the conference room – they overlooked the playground and I had a clear view all the way to the back of the playing fields and the forest beyond – and took a seat up against them.

The privacy glass would hide me from anyone looking up but I could see and hear everyone and everything that went on below me.

Nessa sat in the sunshine with her little friends Madi and Nicole at the tables outside the cafe. Seth was on the playing field with Jett and Josh but there was no sign of Riley. I'd checked the attendance records and he was present today. It was odd that he wasn't with his friends.

Seth kept Nessa close, I noticed. He took a position right at the edge of the playing field, closest to the play equipment and only feet away from where Nessa sat. He had his back to her, to catch the football as it was tossed to him, but he took every opportunity to turn and check on her as he played. He made it look easy.

He was doing as I'd demanded. And I _had_ demanded it of him. I hadn't asked him, I'd demanded it. I'd been rude, angry and panicked and instead of telling me to leave him alone – or to fuck off which could well have been more appropriate at the time – he'd simply sat and taken every word I'd spat at him in anger.

I had no doubt that I'd hurt him. I'd said some terrible things. I'd accused him of not being man enough to protect my girl, both my girls, when I knew full well he'd done it over and over before. He'd killed to protect Nessa and he'd nearly died because of it and I'd thrown it all in his face in a moment of angry weakness.

I could only hope that he'd forgive me.

But there he was, watching her as I'd insisted he should.

He'd driven alone to school this morning too. I'd insisted on that as well, tearing Nessa away from what I knew to be one of the happiest parts of her day. The ride to school was sacred for them both. They relished the little bit of 'grown up' freedom they had and I'd shattered it. With angry words and panicked emotions I'd taken from them both the simple pleasure of driving to school together.

Normally Bella would come to me at break times and we'd share a few minutes of delicious stolen privacy in my office, but not today.

With it being so sunny she'd be hidden away in her office along with Jaz and Alice, Emmett would be in his office at the back of the school hiding also. So there was no chance to spot any of them.

With the pealing of the bell signalling the end of the break the students began to file back into their classrooms. I watched as Nessa skipped along beside Madi in the direction of her mother's building. She had English this period and would have a moment or two with Bella before going in to class. They timed these meetings perfectly. As Nessa's classmates burst into the classroom Bella would wander seemingly nonchalantly through the corridor and Nessa would wait, at the back of the line, for her.

Nessa would smile, Bella would blow her a surreptitious kiss and Nessa would beam at her mother. I'd watched it over and over from my office and Nessa had shown it to me over and over at day's end.

Today I had no doubt that there would be no sharing her happy moments with me.

**Romania**

Locating Ana was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

She simply didn't want to be found. She knew instinctively that she'd be pursued, but not by whom. Raul had a wealth of resources available to him both human and vampire so Ana was sure to change direction and course as often as possible the first few days of her flight from the castle.

Raul had indeed sent a party out to track her, but it had been futile. Her twists and turns, and the changes in the weather, made it impossible to find and then keep her scent. Plus he only had newborns at his disposal and none of them were skilled trackers. They were hardly able to keep themselves in check let alone track an ancient vampire with a lifetime of skills at her disposal.

Sure to stay out of the cities and the larger towns she travelled at night. Unable to use any form of transport meant little to her as she fled. She may have starved herself upon her return to Romania but the sheer volume of human blood she'd consumed in the month prior to leaving the castle meant that she was fit, strong and able to run just as tirelessly as she ever had.

She dodged, weaved and twisted her way across Romania and then headed due north through the centre of Ukraine and on into Belarus after just four nights of solid running. It was strangely freeing. Even being pursued was a break from the monotony of despair she'd felt inside the castle.

Raul's guards returned on the third day to tell him of their failure. The grim task of telling Daria that her only other relative had left them and could not be found fell to Raul. He left her in her husband's arms as she cried. Amelia too seemed stricken at the news, though her interactions with Ana had been limited. Ana was a part of Raul and she was gone. Amelia loved Raul enough for that to hurt her too, on his behalf. He was pathetically grateful for her attempts to comfort him.

Stopping to feed just once in the dead of night in an alley in some god forsaken town on the border between Belarus and Russia Ana made her destination in only eight days, crossing through the border without incident and once again heading north.

Cutting across the mountains she made it to Kotlas as the first shards of the day's sun crept over the surrounding hills. Unwilling to make her presence known too soon she holed up in a lean-to at the back of a row of farm sheds and waited for night to fall.

As Ana waited for the grim dark clouds to form Raul admitted defeat and called Eleazar. The news he had to impart to his uncle was met with shock and sorrow. Eleazar promised he'd do his best to find her, by any means possible, and left Raul with kind words about his attempts to locate her himself.

Unafraid and with nothing left to lose Ana marched to the door of the home of one of the most savage vampires she'd ever known and knocked, hard. Showing weakness or even a slight frailty of mind would mark her in his eyes as a perpetual victim, something Ana was tired of being.

The door was thrown open, no hesitancy or question about who dared knock on his door, and there before her stood the enigma that was Kirkov.

He was outwardly as dark as she knew his insides to be. "I am Ana of Romania," she announced formally, as had been the custom amongst vampires when customs still meant something.

His brutal grin made her flinch minutely but she did well to cover it. "Ahh, the lovely Ana," he drawled as he reached for her hand. He bowed low and touched his lips briefly to the back of her hand. "And such formality. Such a nice change from the modern customs, don't you think?" he asked though he waited for no reply.

It was neither shocking nor surprising that Ana was standing on his doorstep. He'd played close attention when word reached him of her family's demise at the hand of the Coven of Cullen. Looking at her now, supplicant and subordinate, he let his smile play out on his lips. This was a most prodigious turn of events.

Ushering the trembling vampire into his home he smirked to himself as he surveyed the area beyond his threshold. She was alone. Even better the thought as he put a hand to the small of her back and led her through to the living quarters.

It had been some time, at least three decades he thought idly, since he'd taken another vampire to his bed. A recently bereaved vampire who might not be willing stirred him as nothing had managed to for quite some time.

"Come, meet the others, and what's left of our evening meal," he smirked as they entered a room at the rear of the house that was teeming with vampires, all in various states of undress and all with the telltale viciousness that this part of the world was renowned for.

Ana stared at the debauchery and butchery inside that room and smiled. Yes. This was what she needed. A return to what being a vampire meant. Taking what she pleased, when she pleased.

Kirkov offered her a place on a low bench seat and as she made herself comfortable he snapped his fingers. From a side door a ruby eyed monster the size of which she'd never seen before entered dragging a whimpering girl in his wake.

"Master?" the monster asked in a deep, gruff voice.

"We have a guest," Kirkov pointed to where Ana sat. "Ladies first," he sniggered and waved his minion on towards her.

Ana stared at Kirkov for a long moment then tilted her head to stare into the terrified eyes of the girl. She couldn't be more than sixteen, if that. Pale skin, plump lips and raven hair in braids down her back. Ana sniffed appreciatively and cocked her head in thanks at her host.

The girls scream was brief as Ana's teeth pierced her throat.

**BPOV**

I was so aware of Edward's absence as I went about my day. He'd not contacted me and he'd managed to stay hidden from me the entire day through. Nessa seemed alright, a little clingy in homeroom first thing but I'd seen her throughout the day and outwardly she seemed almost like she had any other day.

Almost. There was a sadness about her that echoed in her every move. She wasn't sluggish she just wasn't as bouncy as she usually would be. Seth was the same. I'd seen him at lunch and again in the corridor between his fourth and fifth lesson and while he'd been his usual well mannered self I could tell that he wasn't quite right.

Riley avoided me. His fifth and last period of the day was English just beside my classroom and I'd seen him waiting outside of it just before the bell signalling the beginning of classes rang.

I'd told him a quiet hello and had received a similar reply before he ducked into the classroom like a frightened rabbit.

When classes were over I went back to my office to wait for Nessa, Seth was working in the lab after school so I knew not to wait for him. Nessa arrived on time and we waited until almost all of the students had been collected before we made our way to Emmett's office. He was ready to go so the three of us walked as casually as we could out of the workshops and slipped into the trees at the rear of the school.

Nessa gabbled the whole way home, eager to share with us both what her day had held. Emmett was subdued too but did his best to behave as he normally would. We parted ways at the path that led to his house and he kissed me softly on the cheek before running off towards his own home. No words passed between us but I knew and understood how he was feeling and let him be.

I was under no illusions that Edward would be home when I got there – he was rarely finished this early – so letting myself and Nessa into the cottage and being met with silence and his lack of fresh scent was no surprise.

Nessa went off to do her homework and I tried to busy myself with the endless stream of paperwork and marking I had to do these days.

When her homework was finished Nessa asked if she could go to Rosie's and I let her, Edward be damned. I watched her run down the path and then texted Emmett to let her know she was on her way. He sent me a reply to let me know she was there safely and I set about getting some things together for her dinner.

Seth would eat at the Rez with his parents tonight and I didn't need his incoming text to know that, even though it arrived within minutes of him finishing his shift in the lab. I'd expected it. I told him I would see him later on in the evening at the big house and put Nessa's steak in the oven.

I put on a load of laundry, dusted the bookcases in the study and corrected the last of my students work. I called for Nessa from Rosie's at six and not five minutes after she'd finished her dinner and had washed her face and hands Seth arrived.

I left them alone in the living room and slipped out of the glass doors in our bedroom and into the forest that surrounded our home. Edward's scent was everywhere out here but none of it was fresh. Two days old at least and fading fast. He'd not been near the place since he'd left the night before.

I made one last sweep of the area, in a larger circle than I had before, and when I came up empty I went back indoors. I checked my cell phone for messages, there was none.

At seven the three of us made our way to the big house as we normally would. My stomach clenched as we came to the back decking. Edward's scent was here and it had been laid here in the last hour or so it was so strong.

Seth and Nessa didn't balk and went right on inside. I took an extra second before going in, fully expecting to see my husband there.

Rosie, Em and Angel were in the living room with Alice and Jasper, who all said a quick hello before going back to their game that had now been joined by Seth and Nessa. I could hear Esme upstairs, probably in her studio, and I could hear the soft flicking of paper from Carlisle's study on the first floor. But no sound of Edward.

"He isn't here," Alice said bleakly as she came to my side, sliding her hand into mine. "He left a little while ago."

"Oh, right," I mumbled. I was crushed. I had been sure that he'd be here, that we'd talk, that he'd come home.

"What's going on?" Alice whispered.

"Nothing," I tried to bluff, but she was smarter than that even if she really didn't have any idea, and I wasn't sure she didn't. If Edward had come here last night it would've been Alice he talked with, or Carlisle. If Alice was to be believed and she didn't know what had happened that left Carlisle. "Excuse me a minute please," I mumbled and took off up the stairs.

"Come on in Bella," he said quietly before I'd even knocked.

"Hey," I said stupidly as I moved into the room and sat opposite him.

"Hey yourself." He closed his book and shifted back in his chair.

This was his most practised of all human traits. Here, in his study, he was a man first, vampire second. But also my sire, my father in this life and my father in law.

"Where is he?" I asked bluntly.

"He's gone to speak with Riley again, he's having a tough time of it," he said kindly.

I didn't know what to say to that. I was sad for Riley, worried that he was doing it tough, but while my husband was off consoling someone else his wife and children were left floundering, wondering if we'd ever be the same as we once were.

I stood, readied to leave the room when Carlisle called me back. "What he's told me was in confidence, I can't break that," he said sternly and I nodded my understanding. "But I can tell you this; he loves you like no other. You and Nessa, Seth too, are his whole life."

All of a sudden a silent rage built inside me. If I was so damn special to Edward then where the hell was he? "Thanks dad," I muttered and turned to leave again.

"He won't come home until he's asked," Carlisle whispered so low I couldn't be sure I'd heard correctly.

I replayed the words in my head. He's waiting for me to ask him to come home?

"In that case he might be waiting a while seeing as he won't even speak to me." And with that I left the room.

**Riley POV**

"Why do I feel so sick?"

"Because you haven't seen her today," Edward said sadly.

We hadn't said much up to this point. It'd been an hour since I'd called him and we'd been sitting on this rock for most of that time in silence.

All day my gut had churned and I thought that something was wrong, like really wrong. Shape shifters couldn't get sick, we could be hurt but we'd heal after a day or so, but we didn't get ill. I'd panicked and called him after dinner when mom said she thought I looked a bit odd. Out of sorts.

I still hadn't told my parents. Edward had said I should. But I couldn't. Not yet.

I understood this a little better now that I'd had twenty four hours to come to grips with it, but I still didn't like it. I felt dirty. I felt disgusting because Angel was just a child. Edward had explained Seth's situation, that he'd imprinted on Nessa at the time of her birth and that he himself had imprinted on Bella when she was around Angel's age, but to me it felt wrong, and dirty.

I got no clue from my teacher today. It had been business as usual. I'd wanted to skip today, give the big guy some time to work out things in his head, but I couldn't think of a good enough reason to give to my parents who were eager for me to do well here.

Emmett had treated me as he had any other day. In homeroom first thing he'd called the roll and his voice and posture showed no signs of any animosity as he'd called my name from his list. Bella had smiled and asked after me between classes and Seth and Nessa had been their usual selves, though a little quieter.

I hadn't seen Edward all day apart from the few minutes I watched him walk across the school grounds as he made his way to his own classrooms. He seemed pretty normal.

I wanted to ask how Angel felt about all this. I wanted to know what her parents were thinking, how they were dealing with the knowledge.

"They're okay," Edward whispered, breaking me from my thoughts. It was hard to get used to, having your head invaded. "I can't turn it off, I wish I could."

"Yeah, I can guess it wouldn't be much fun most of the time," I told him honestly. I'd never wanted to know what others were thinking too much. Knowing it all the time, whether you wanted to or not would be horrible, I guessed. "Nessa can turn it off though, right?" I asked.

"Yes, she can. She's fairly unique like that, we think. Bella is a shield and we think Nessa got a piece of each of us when she was born."

Made sense. Half his gift, half hers. I wonder what Angel got from her mother.

"She got her life," Edward said gravely and I turned to stare at him.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not my story to tell. You should ask Rose and Emmett."

I nodded but made no comment. The idea of that frightened me just a little bit. I couldn't see myself going to their house – did they even have a house or did they all live together in that big one? Either way I couldn't see myself going to meet with them to ask questions. Emmett scared me but not as much as Rose did.

"They want to see you," he said softly.

"They do?" I yelled a little bit too loudly.

"Of course they do. While this isn't my story to tell either they've asked me to explain to you how they met. They think it might help you understand a bit more and maybe help you to see why it's important for you to go there, to see Angel, to be near her and them when you need to be."

Did I need to be near her, near them? Would this sick, clawing feeling ever go away if I didn't?

"I'll listen but I'm not promising anything," I told him truthfully. I didn't want to be mated, bonded, whatever it was this was called. And not just to a child, but to anyone. I liked my life. I was young, too young, for this.

He considered my thoughts but led on anyway. The story was a simple one and by the time he'd finished I _did_ understand a little more. I couldn't say that it made me more open to going to see them but as he hinted and hedged around how Angel came to be their child I found myself wanting to know how she came to be. Because I was smart enough and knowledgeable enough about vampires to know that she wasn't their biological child. Not if they'd been married for decades already and Angel was only four, or five, or something.

During the night, while I'd lain in my bed staring at the ceiling, I'd hatched a plan to protect my heart from all this. I would wait her out. I'd let her be while she was small and I'd wait it out. Edward had already told me about the way the hybrids grew (I hated that word) so I knew it would only be a few years until she was fully grown. If I still felt this way about her when she was old enough to decide for herself then I'd do something about it. But for now, I'd had the idea that I'd just tread water and wait. It wasn't like I had anything more pressing to do with my time. I was committed to doing my trade here, at his school, so I'd be in the area for a few years whether I'd imprinted or not.

She'd have the time to grow and I'd have the time to get my qualifications and make something of myself. If after all that time I still felt this pull towards her, then, maybe then I'll be able to do something about these feelings.

"If you think you can wait her out I'm beside you, but you have to know that in all my experience with this, it won't work," he said solemnly.

Yeah, wasn't used to being 'read' yet. It sucked.

"I need to try, for my sake and for hers."

"If you think that's best," he mumbled. "Can I tell Rose and Emmett that you'll speak with them then?"

I cocked an eyebrow and nodded. "On one condition," I stated firmly.

"I'll make sure Angel isn't there," he finished my thought before I'd finished thinking it.

I'd imparted all the information I could to Rose and Emmett about what Riley was feeling about the situation and tried to leave the rest to them. But it was difficult. I had insights into Riley's thinking that neither of them had and they were desperate to learn them. I didn't want to get in the middle of what was happening for them but because of what I could do, I was.

Rose still wasn't too sure about meeting with him but Emmett was keen. He wanted all the cards on the table now, he needed to know what Riley was planning and he wanted to know what to do for Angel. He needed a plan and he needed to formulate what was going to be best for Angel in the long run.

From his thoughts I could tell that he was willing to let this play out, as Nessa and Seth had played out so far, if it was what Angel truly wanted.

It had never been in doubt, at least I hadn't ever doubted, that Nessa wanted Seth. Right from the day she was born he'd been a part of her life and she wanted it that way, needed it to be that way, for her to be happy. But Angel had made no comment about Riley since she'd formally met him two days ago. That struck me as odd.

"Will you call her in? Talk to her about Riley so I can get a read on what she's thinking?" I asked my sceptical brother.

"What for?" Rosie asked just as sceptically.

I sighed. Rose was onboard for sounding out Riley but doing the same with Angel still wasn't something she was too ready for. I'd need to be convincing, I'd need to reassure her that it was important.

I weighed my words heavily before answering. "This is different than it was with Nessa. Nessa was just as taken with Seth as he was for her, this isn't like that. Angel seems to 'like' Riley and no matter that Riley has imprinted on her that choice remains hers, whether or not she wants anything to do with him." Rose sat impartially but Emmett was nodding along in agreement. "If Angel doesn't want anything to do with Riley, other than being his friend, this whole situation is for nought. It's her choice Rosie; she's old enough to make it in its simplest form right now. I want to get a read on what she's thinking about him before you decide to open her up to anything more."

A look passed between husband and wife as they silently tried to see what the other thought about the proposal. Eventually Emmett called for his daughter and she joined us in their study.

She climbed up into Rosie's lap and smiled at me widely. "Hello Uncle Eddie," she giggled, knowing it drove me nuts to be called that.

"Hey Spook," I laughed. She once asked me why she was called Angel and I cheekily told her it was because her opposite number in heaven was a ghost. She didn't like the idea of ghosts so I told her that in my day they were called spooks. She couldn't pronounce it properly and I'd laughed loud and long at her early attempts, this pleased her greatly, so the name had stuck. "Were you a good girl for Renee today?" I asked her once she was settled.

"I think so," she hedged. "But Danny took my pencil and wouldn't give it back and I got cross and told him off. Nessa's nana didn't like that much. Oh, and then Emily got sick on the high swing and she threw up right near me and I got cross again. And I chased Philip round and round and made him cross. He said he didn't want to play tag today but I made him. So, I guess I wasn't very good today Uncle Eddie," she pouted sweetly all the same.

She was so different to my Nessa. So childlike, almost childish. It was something we rarely saw from Nessa. She had always seemed very grown up, even as a toddler.

"Well, I don't think that's too bad," I laughed. "Did you play with Nessa when she came home from school today?"

"Yep, she was cranky though. She didn't want to play dolls with me so we watcheded television instead. It was boring," she grumbled.

I wanted so desperately to go home and see her myself, but couldn't. "But it was nice to have someone to watch with though, wasn't it?" I hedged.

"I guess so," she replied.

Emmett caught on then and took over seamlessly. "It's good to have friends, right?" he asked his daughter.

"Yep," she popped the p just as Alice would. "Seth says he's my friend and Naomi says she's my friend too."

"What about Riley, is he your friend?" Emmett asked cautiously.

As their simple conversation played out a pattern began to form. Whenever Rose or Em said the name Riley Angel automatically prefixed it with 'my' in her thoughts before answering out loud. When Rose asked what colour doggie Riley had been when she met him she thought 'my Riley was black'. When Em asked her if Riley was as tall as Seth she thought 'my Riley is shorter than Seth but bigger than me'.

After half an hour of not so subtle interrogation we let her go back to her room to play. I'd gotten what I'd come for and heard what I needed to hear.

"Well?" Rose demanded the instant Angel had left the room.

"She's his," I said solemnly.

**Seth POV**

Bella looked miserable, Nessa was bad-tempered, Rose and Emmett were quiet and Jasper looked pained.

It felt just like it did before the fight. The whole house was on edge and I hated it. I wondered how many of them felt like Edward did. How many of them thought I'd put Nessa in danger. How many of them were disappointed with me. Which ones were as angry as Edward and which ones agreed with everything he'd said the night before?

It was obvious that Rosie and Emmett were keeping a closer eye on Angel than they normally would have, even in the big house, and even though I knew that Nessa had been allowed to run the path today to see them some of the other 'conditions' Edward had mentioned last night had been implemented.

I hadn't been allowed to drive Nessa to school today. Edward had watched and listened to me and to her all day – Nessa told me she'd been reading him almost all day while we were at school – and Riley had been nowhere to be seen. We'd come to the big house tonight as a group. And there were sly looks passed between Bella and the other couples before she'd gone upstairs to visit with Carlisle.

No harsh words had been exchanged up there but I could tell it had been strained. What hadn't been said bothered me more than what actually had. Edward wasn't here. He hadn't been anywhere near the cottage since at least yesterday and Carlisle had said that he was now off talking with Riley somewhere.

Riley. He was the problem here. He'd caused problems for me, for Nessa and for Bella and Edward. On top of that he was the centre of a problem for Angel and her parents too.

I wish I'd never befriended him in the first place. I liked the guy and he was a nice guy as well, but me bringing him here had caused such a problem that I regretted having done it now.

I didn't need friends, not really. I had Nessa. And Bella and Edward to an extent too. I had my family at the Rez and the pack so why I thought I needed to add to that I didn't know. It wasn't like I had much time for anything or anyone else anyway. It had been foolish and it had caused a huge shift in the way this family operated. I was sorry for having done it in the first place.

I got good grades – hopefully good enough to get into pre med somewhere next year – I had paid off the truck to Bella and I liked my job in the lab. My parents were happy with me, the pack was content for me to spend a lot of my time at the cottage and I fit neatly into life there. I didn't need the complication of friends outside of that.

Apart from sleeping there wasn't any time to do much else. My days were full and my evenings were fuller. I ate with Nessa, we played games or swam or did homework until it was time to go to the big house and when we got there we played more games and included the rest of the family.

On weekends we swam in the river or went to the little sandy beach in the boats and the extended family. I played stick and ball with the girls in the yard at the big house or we watched movies or played board games if the weather was foul. I tagged along when they baked with Bella or Esme and when Nessa wanted to play girly games with Angel I tagged along then too.

There was nothing missing from my life. So why I'd had to complicate things by adding friends I wasn't sure. I should've just kept the boys I'd made friends with at school. There had been no real reason to see them outside of there; it had just been a simple mistake.

I hadn't noticed anything about Riley that made him look different, or smell different, or even sound different to me. I hadn't noticed Nessa thinking he was different either. He smelled human, sounded human and looked human. But Edward blamed me for bringing him here and opening Nessa up to what could've been something really dangerous.

I'd never forgive myself if something ever happened to her on my watch. But Edward was right. My watch was always, I didn't and shouldn't have designated times to be her protector, I should always be her protector. I'd dropped the ball and I was going to have to pay the price for that.

So no more riding together in the truck. No more running through the forest with her, no more friends over and no more alone time. Not that we did anything special when we were alone, but I'd miss it all the same. We'd share secrets during the few times we could be far enough away not to be overheard or read and I was going to miss that simple pleasure. We'd lie in the long grass that fringed the forest and talk about life and what we wanted to do with it. There would be no more trips to the Rez with friends outside of the tribe and no more swimming at First Beach because so many humans went there in the summers. We'd be confined to the cottage, the pool house and the big house from now on.

Nessa was going to hate it. She loved her freedom. She loved the freedom being with me gave her, and us. She loved that her daddy trusted me with her to such an extent that we could've pretty much gone anywhere we wanted in the area alone. She loved star gazing and she loved to chase the butterflies in the meadow. She loved to body surf with me at the beach when it was too cold for anyone else. She loved riding with me in the truck to the Rez and then visiting with my parents and sister. Now she would have to be dropped off by an 'adult' and our sing alongs on the way would stop.

"You going to answer that?" Emmett said as he punched me on the shoulder.

"What?" I asked.

"Your phone man," he chuckled.

"Oh, right," I mumbled and pulled the vibrating thing from my pocket. "Hey," I told Edward on the other end.

"Once you've walked the girls home tonight will you come out to the cliffs and see me?" he asked.

I hesitated for half a second before replying. I didn't really want to see him at all. I definitely didn't want to see him on his own, not if he was still as angry at me as he had been the other day anyway. But he'd told me to man up so I said that I would meet him and hung up.

Nobody paid too much attention to the call and nobody asked me anything about it so I went back to watching the cartoons with Nessa.

When it got close to the girls bedtime we all shifted from the big house. We said our usual goodbyes to Carlisle and Esme, Jasper and Alice, and then our normal goodbye to Rosie, Em and Angel at the junction of the pathways in the forest.

Bella got Nessa into her pyjamas and when she was done brushing her teeth and washing her face I tucked her into her bed.

"I've gotta go out for a little bit but I'll be here when you wake up Ness," I told the pouting little girl as I made ready to meet with Edward.

Bella raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Alright," Nessa gave in. "I will see you in the morning then brown boy," she giggled.

I kissed her cheek, then Bella's, and ran in the direction of the Rez.

**EPOV**

I wasn't prepared for his anger. I wasn't prepared for him to arrive as a wolf either.

His thoughts reached me before his scent and I was knocked sideways by the sheer animosity in them that he felt toward me. As he neared and I became aware that it wasn't human footfalls I was hearing but the thump of giant paws hitting the ground I slipped into a defensive crouch.

He was so angry that his thoughts were jumbled, disconnected as he ran towards me. If he didn't stop we'd both plummet over the edge and into the water. I wouldn't be hurt but if he landed wrongly he could be.

He did stop but so close to me that I could smell and feel his pulsing rage as he stood four paws square on the ground up against my chest.

He was so tall in his human form now that in his wolf form his muzzle stared me in the chin. His black eyes were so angry that I had to look away. I'd done this to him.

'_You wanted me to man up, well here I am, ready to kick your ass for what you did and said.'_ His thoughts were purposeful and I knew that he meant every word.

I slipped further into my crouch and let my venom come on. I did not want to fight with him but my own anger at him knew no bounds.

"If you think you can take me take your shot," I told him pointedly.

'_Oh, what, you aren't man enough to throw the first punch?' _he chided.

I saw red then. Who the hell did he think he was? Speaking to me that way after everything I've done for him? I was even more incensed than I was before.

I licked my teeth and felt the rush of venom as it coated my mouth. I balled my fists and backed up a little, giving myself more room to manoeuvre. "You put my daughter in danger and you have the balls to be pissed at _me_?" I raged, unable to hold it in any longer.

He began to circle me then. Slow, deliberate movements. I swivelled on the balls of my feet as he moved, keeping us face to face. His heart was racing so fast I could hear it over the sound of the waves crashing below us. But he wasn't afraid. He wasn't scared of me, of what I could do to him, at all.

It was just like the day I'd failed to bring Bella and Nessa home to him when she'd left me. He'd wanted me dead. Right now the feeling was completely mutual.

'_I've got bigger balls than you've ever given me credit for,' _he thought as he quickened his pace around me.

"You put her in danger," I shouted as we continued to dance around one another.

'_YOU couldn't detect him either asshole,' _he shouted in his thoughts.

I balled my fists at that. "What are you implying little boy?" I hissed.

He increased his pace yet again, circling me faster as his anger sped through his body. His blood was pumping so fast I could see his fur jerking in reaction to the veins that now bulged with anger, revulsion and the need to strike.

'_You think you're so fucking perfect but you can't protect her any better than I can!'_

If anything my own anger flared at that. "She's mine," I spat without thinking.

'_You tell yourself that,' _he laughed nastily in his thoughts. '_She's as much mine as she is yours. And that eats you, doesn't it? That I CAN protect her. That I CAN make her happy.'_

I lunged then. I caught his flank with my shoulder because I'd not stood out of my crouch, and the sickening crunch of his broken ribs rent the air as I pushed him to the ground.

He didn't cry out either in his thoughts or by howling or growling either. He took me on, shove for shove, move for move. I'd underestimated him in so many ways. His strength, his determination and his anger. His thoughts turned to how he'd warred with Santiago, how he'd dodged and weaved.

He came at me again and again, his rage fuelling his movements. He caught me twice on my left side as he struck out. It didn't hurt but I began to wonder where this would all end. I couldn't kill him. But I could fucking hurt him plenty.

When he lunged next I forced my hands into the massive depth of his fur at his shoulder and tore a gash down his back. My hands came away with matted clumps of his fur and blood under my nails. Still he didn't back down. He wanted to hurt me too.

I looked down at my hands and saw the blood there and then turned to face him again, but I wasn't quick enough. I was side on when he pounced. His huge jaws were open as he flew through the air having pushed off with his massive hind legs. He bit down on the juncture between my shoulder and neck and closed his teeth over my flesh.

I roared, more from shock than pain, and flung his body over me and onto the ground. He'd taken my shirt with him but not my arm or my head. I rounded on him as he righted himself and shoved all my strength into him.

He collapsed onto the ground and I heard the air forcing its way out of his lungs. His tongue lolled to one side as he panted through the pain.

The soft gurgling noise that came from his chest scared me. He whimpered softly, his thoughts in turmoil as he realised that he was unable to breathe properly. A small trickle of blood leaked from the side of his mouth and I knew, without having to check, that I'd punctured his lungs.

He got frightened then. Truly scared that he was leaving Nessa alone, with me. He began to worry about what would happen to her without him. His thoughts betrayed him and he knew, instantly, that I knew I'd gone too far.

I ran to him, sunk to my knees at his side. "Phase Seth, you've got to phase to heal," I told him breathlessly.

He shivered in pain and began to shake his enormous head from side to side in frustration. He didn't want to give in. He didn't want to show weakness in front of me. He didn't want to give up the fight. He wanted to kill me.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 23 – These Times Were Sent to Try Us

**Romania**

Raul spent hours on the phone with Eleazar in the days immediately after Ana's defection. A myriad of emotions passed through him as uncle and nephew tried to make sense of it.

Anger at her disloyalty towards what was left of the family. Dismay that she'd up and leave without a word. Worry for her safety both physically and mentally and a deep sense of foreboding at what it meant.

When there had been no word from her for two days Raul sent a small scouting party made up of the more stable members of his guard out to search for signs of her.

They scoured as much of northern Romania as was possible but they came up empty handed. Daria would present herself at Raul's study door at precisely six o'clock each night for news, but there was never any good news to share.

Dom oversaw the operation and even he had to admit defeat after a week had passed by without word.

It was decided to extend the search area after the second week turned up nothing. Raul's guards marched on through Moldova to the east and then passed back through northern Romania before crossing into Hungary in the west. All for nought. There was no sign of her. Not a whisper about disappearances of humans without trace, no scent to follow and no other vampires to ask.

After speaking once more with Eleazar it was decided that the search would head further north, into the Ukraine and the guard would be given one more week to search before they would be recalled back to the castle.

Ana was in fact quite happily ensconced in Kirkov's coven of misfits and psychopaths. His hatred for all things Cullen fed her insecurities and nurtured her own resentment. The steady flow of warm bodies sated her bloodlust and Kirkov himself sated her other needs, in his bed.

It was a volatile union. Ana, feeling desperately guilty for forgoing her vows to her husband fought against the pull she felt toward Kirkov. Kirkov himself did nothing to assuage her guilt; in fact he actively fed it.

By shoving her loss in her face she too built up a hatred of the name Cullen and all it stood for. What his motives were, or his reasoning behind his hatred, she didn't know and he refused to voice them. But for Ana the burning hot resentment she had fled her home to avoid was now a constant pain in her chest and mind. At every turn she was reminded of what she'd lost and who had taken it from her. Cullen. Any and all Cullen's were equally responsible, as was Eleazar.

Kirkov's pathological hatred of this and other covens manifested itself in his treatment of Ana. If she flinched when he raged against them he punished her, harshly. Denying her his body, his support and his home. If she protested when he raged about the wrongs done to him by one of them he struck her. Once, when she'd defended Raul and Daria's closeness with their uncle, he cast her out of his home and into the street in broad daylight.

Ana quickly learned to appreciate what Kirkov offered her and kept her thoughts to herself from then on. His protection was worth it. His attention was worth it. His body was worth it. The endless supply of victims was worth it.

At home, in the castle, the atmosphere was oppressively solemn.

Daria worried constantly for her aunt and Raul searched relentlessly. He used every available resource to track his wayward aunt, frightened at the possibility that she'd succumbed to the ultimate death or had, as had been his private fear, gone to Kirkov.

He knew the monster well. As ruthless as he was charming. As brutal as he could be gentle. Utterly lethal and the most dishonest, cold blooded, merciless bastard he'd ever had the misfortune to come across. Even his father and uncle, who ruled by fear, knew and loathed the vampire that was Kirkov, his father ruled by right, Kirkov by might.

Kirkov's coven, whilst small, was known for being ruled with an iron fist. There were no defectors from within it; disloyalty was dealt with swiftly and without compassion or remorse. Only those who could live by his rules bothered to try. The merest hint of weakness or the slightest sign that you disagreed with his motives or his actions and vampire after vampire found themselves dismembered without haste. Not many wanted to live that way, but some were born to it.

Kirkov had changed humans that had been ruthless killers without conscience, effectively turning them into virtually unstoppable monsters once he'd passed on his hateful gift to them. His guard was filled to the brim with humanities scum. Murderers, thieves, paedophiles, no human trait was too low, too horrendous that he wouldn't transform them into his minions. The worst of them, by far, was his personal bodyguard Daneslov. A more savage human being had never been created. A more clinically detached character there never was. Daneslov as a human had killed without compunction; his victims neither interested him nor excited him, only their flowing crimson blood did. He derived no pleasure from hunting them when he'd been human and little had changed once he'd been transformed. But the sight of thick rivers of blood gave him such supreme pleasure the often locked himself away with the victim for hours on end, torturing, puncturing, squeezing every last drop from them forcibly before he allowed them the bliss of death. It wasn't the thrill of the chase for Daneslov but rather the euphoria of breaking them that enticed him to it. Kirkov was supremely happy with his investment in Daneslov and kept his man on a short leash.

To a point.

When Kirkov needed something particularly unsavoury accomplished it was to Daneslov he turned. There was never a question, never a blink as he explained what he required. Daneslov was completely compliant. No atrocity was too extreme, no request too low, no depravity too excessive. The rest of his guard revelled in the power they wielded amongst the unfortunate humans nearby. They may have been compliant and loyal to their master, but they loved that they could now be free to indulge their inner cravings so liberally.

When Kirkov began to send his enforcer Bolan on long distance reconnaissance missions Ana could hold her tongue no longer. Afraid that he'd set his sights on her own family she questioned him about Bolen's absences.

"My dear Ana, a grave injustice has been done to you. The loss of a mate at the hand of another is a grievance that mustn't go unpunished. I have sent my enforcer forth to discover how such a punishment may be meted out," Kirkov told a trembling Ana.

"Punishment?" she asked meekly.

"Indeed. The mighty Cullen's, the pious Carlisle at the helm, need to be shown that their slaughter of royalty does not go unnoticed, or without penalty."

Ana was relieved that Bolen had not been sent to investigate Raul or Daria, but it sat uneasily with her that someone was going to face his wrath, however convoluted his reasoning was.

**EPOV**

I couldn't carry Seth and use my cell phone at the same time so I made the decision to leave him as he was for half a minute while I called Carlisle. I begged him to come to the Rez, with his medical bag, and to hurry. He'd agreed, of course, and then I could set about getting Seth home as fast as was possible.

He'd phased back to his human form so running with him wasn't a problem, but he was bleeding profusely and while it wasn't particularly appetising to me it was blood none the less.

It dribbled from his lips as I ran, coating my forearms and splashing onto my legs and shoes as I sped through the forest. There were no thoughts for me to read, he was silent and I hoped that meant he had fallen into unconsciousness.

His heart still beat but his lungs were filled with fluids and those fluids bubbled at the corners of his mouth as the wind whipped it out behind us.

The gash that had been on his back as a wolf was now across his left shoulder blade, dipping down to spread across his throat. It too bled profusely.

I reached the Rez in record time and ran right to Sam's house. My shouting had alerted him, and the other members of the pack, that there was something wrong so I was met with a wall of muscle as I ran towards the porch.

They all began shouting then, demanding to know what had happened to him. I ignored it as best I could and followed Sam into the house. I set Seth onto the bed that was offered and told Sam that Carlisle was on his way. In the meantime I needed antiseptic to dress the gash and clean water to wipe him down so that Carlisle could assess him when he arrived.

Emily returned with water and a cloth and by the time Carlisle arrived the blood that had dried all over Seth's body was gone and the gash had been cleaned and dressed with a makeshift dressing.

Carlisle was methodical and clinical in his assessment. All the ribs on Seth's right side were broken, possibly splintered, and one of those shards had pierced his right lung. It had collapsed and from what Carlisle could tell without the use of an x-ray machine or an ultrasound scanner Seth needed to have his lung reinflated manually. That meant inserting a tube into his chest to relieve the build up of gases and then stitching the leak shut to allow the lung to reinflate on its own.

"Will it heal on its own?" I asked.

"I don't know, I know his ribs will, but this...I can't be sure Edward."

Carlisle's thoughts were grave. He fled to the adjoining bathroom and washed and disinfected his hands before donning latex gloves. He laid out syringes and tubing along the side of the bed. He had me roll him so that the collapse was uppermost and then he pushed a thin gauge syringe in the space between two of his broken ribs. A human would've passed out from the pain of it but Seth was already unconscious and didn't feel a thing. His thoughts were still black.

As were those of his pack, though it was a different kind of black.

They were desperate to learn what had happened lest some unknown threat existed. I didn't have the balls to tell them that the only threat to Seth today had been me.

Sam did what the Alpha should and organised a patrol party to keep the boundary of the Rez secure while he waited for news of Seth's recovery.

A long slow hiss was heard as the gas escaped via the tubing Carlisle had forced into the lung. It smelled awful, acrid and putrid. I knew the basics of having to do this but had never done it myself. I hadn't even ever practised it. Carlisle though was the consummate professional and worked quickly and methodically.

When the tubing was removed Carlisle had me roll Seth back onto his back. "Now we wait," he told me solemnly. "The lung should reinflate on its own but I'll get ready to do it manually if it doesn't in say, five minutes."

From his thoughts I could tell he was waiting to see if the small tear in Seth's lung lining would heal quickly because of his shifter nature or not. Already the thick purple bruising on his chest was starting to fade, his nature taking over and repairing the damage I'd caused to the capillaries under his skin. I was thankful that they were retreating, lessening with each minute that passed but I was worried that he'd not regained consciousness as yet.

"Should we attempt to wake him?" I asked.

"Normally yes, but he's breathing steadily and his heart rhythm sounds normal. If the leak heals itself I'll wake him then."

I nodded my agreement and waited. Sam came to my side and stared down at the broken boy in his bed. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

I knew the shit storm an admission on my part would cause so I took the cowards route and told him 'not now'. He let it go and went back to stand at the head of the bed to wait.

At the three minute mark Seth's chest began to rise steadily on the right side. Putting his ear to Seth's chest – better than any stethoscope ever would be – Carlisle began to sober his thoughts.

"The leak has healed and his lung is filling on its own," he told the room.

Then he roused Seth with soft words and gentle nudges to his arm. The boys thoughts began to filter into my brain slowly as he began to stir. He opened his eyes and stared right at me, fully aware of what had happened between us. His anger followed soon after.

Had he not been as weak as he was he would've leapt from that bed and killed me where I stood. His thoughts were still so angry and it was all aimed solely at me. I deserved every thought, every angry word, every vow of revenge, I deserved them all.

'_Get out,'_ he thought pointedly while staring straight at me.

I wasted no time and fled out the back door of Sam's house and out into the forest.

**BPOV**

Nessa slept soundly despite Seth not being in the house. I on the other hand could not relax.

I'd cleaned every surface, scrubbed and polished, shined and dusted everything that could accumulate even one dust mite and still I couldn't settle.

The only other time I'd ever felt this alone, this desperate for Edward, was when I'd left him that one time. I couldn't go near our room because it held onto Edward's scent. The living room was better, but only marginally. The piano taunted me as the hours ticked by, still with no word from him.

I'd called his cell a dozen times and each time it went directly to his voicemail. I left message after message begging him to at least speak to me but he never called me back. He didn't appear and he didn't contact me at all during the night.

It being Saturday there was nothing for me to prepare for school or for anything else. Nessa slept later than during the week so it was an interminable wait for her to at least stir.

She wandered out into the living room at eight, her eyes immediately falling on the stowed away futon.

"Sethy didn't come home last night?" she asked, her bottom lip already trembling.

"No sweetheart, he didn't. But I've left him a message and he'll call soon. Or, he might just come over soon," I said, trying to reassure her.

She nodded bleakly and sat at the kitchen table to have her breakfast.

The sound of footsteps alerted us to someone approaching and she perked right up when the knock at the door came. It wasn't unusual for Seth to knock but as I stood I smelled who it was. I allowed myself the small disappointment but quickly recovered and had a smile on my face as I opened the door to Carlisle.

"Good morning girls," he said quietly.

"Good morning," I told him and stepped aside so he could come in. "Nessa, Pa's here!"

She ran to him, as she always did, and he swung her up into his arms. He buried his face into her neck, just like Edward always did. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes though. I assumed that was because Edward was at the big house and not at home with us.

"Nessa can you go and get dressed and wash your face and hands sweety?" I asked the little girl who was smiling widely at the unorthodox visit from her grandfather.

She skipped off quite happily and I took a seat in her recently vacated kitchen chair.

Carlisle didn't come any further into the room; instead he stood stock still and spoke softly and gently. "Seth's been hurt Bella. He's asking for you and for Nessa."

Had my heart still been able to beat it would've stopped right then. "What happened?" I shouted.

"I don't know exactly," he mumbled. "He's at Sam's."

"Nessa!" I yelled as I flew down the hall and into the bathroom. "Hurry and get dressed, Seth needs us."

He was pale and drawn lying in Sam and Emily's bed.

I could smell antiseptic and the faded scent of blood from a wound that had recently healed. He had the sheet pulled up to his shoulders but peeking out from under it was the unmistakable gauze of a bandage.

Nessa climbed up onto the bed and put her head onto his chest. He closed his arms around her and inhaled deeply from her hair. She was crying steadily, though not noisily.

"What happened?" I whispered as I sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand into mine.

He said nothing; he just clutched my hand tightly and held Nessa with his other. He closed his eyes and it was as though I wasn't even there. They just clung to each other silently.

I left the room and went to find Sam. He was outside sitting around the fire pit with the other boys from the pack. "What happened?" I asked as I sat down beside him.

"We don't know. Edward just brought him here in the middle of the night like that," he said, tilting his head towards the house.

"Edward brought him here, like that?" I asked.

"Yeah. He'd already called Carlisle and he arrived soon after. He patched him up and then woke him up then Edward took off."

"He hasn't been back to check on him at all?" I asked, my anger rising.

"Nup," Paul answered with a shake of his head.

"What the hell?" I shouted at nobody in particular as I got to my feet. "What has Seth said happened?"

"Nothing, he's not said anything." This time it was Embry that answered.

"And where is Edward now?" I asked them. They all shook their heads. I began to pace then, fury and worry filling me to the brim. "Can I leave Nessa here with Seth for a few hours?" I asked Sam.

"Yeah, of course you can," Sam said, getting to his feet. "But can you call me when you find out what happened? The tribunal will want to know."

"I will," I called over my shoulder as I ran from the house.

I got into the Guardian and slid my cell into the dash mounted holder. I selected the first number and hit dial as I backed out of the car space.

"You've reached Edward, leave a message," the voice of my husband said.

I waited for the telltale beep then began speaking. "If you did that to him Edward...so help me Edward if you don't call me...where the fuck are you? Call me, NOW!" I roared before hitting end.

I slowed when I came to the turn off to go through town and as I hit the tarmac on the highway I hit dial again.

"Hi, you've called Alice. I'm not available right now so leave a message and I promise to return your call the instant I can," her voicemail message chirped annoyingly.

"Alice its Bella. Call me as soon as you get this," I hissed and hit end.

While I was passing the turn off to my father's house I dialled again.

"Hey, I'm busy, leave your number," Emmett's gruff voice echoed around my car as the frustrating beep of his message bank sounded.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" I bellowed. "Call me Emmett, fast."

Next I called the big house but the phone rang out before anyone answered. Then I called Rosie and Em's house. No answer again. Jasper's cell went to his voicemail too so I called the school.

"Good morning. Welcome to EC College, you have Felicity how may I help you?" Flick's sing song voice sang.

"Hi Flick its Bella, is Edward in by chance?"

"Yeah sure, you want me to transfer you?" she asked helpfully.

"NO!" I shouted. "Don't tell him I called, I'll be there in a minute, I want to surprise him," I told her cagily.

"Oh, naughty Mrs Boss," she giggled.

I ended the call and floored the car.

I didn't care that he'd smell me approaching. I didn't hide and I didn't come at him in secret. I simply strode through the foyer, saying a quick hello to Flick on my way up the stairs. Luckily for her Linda wasn't in attendance today so the outer office was empty.

I could smell him so I knew he could smell me as I approached his closed office door. I didn't knock. I threw it open so hard the surrounding jamb cracked and the hinges whined in protest as the door slammed back onto the wall.

"What did you fucking do to him?" I screamed as I entered.

**EPOV**

I'd smelled her, of course, but nothing prepared me for the hatred in her eyes when she burst into my office.

"I said, what did you fucking do to him?" she cocked her eyebrow at me and advanced across the room until she was standing right in front of my desk.

I couldn't look at her so I put my head into my hands on the top of my desk.

"So help me Edward..." she hissed, "if you don't answer me I'll leap this fucking desk and take you out myself."

"I hurt him," I sobbed into my hands.

I couldn't lift my head because I'd see the loathing in her eyes again and I couldn't handle that.

She slammed her hands down on the top of my desk with such force the supports groaned their displeasure. I waited for three long silent minutes, thinking she'd make good on her promise but she didn't.

I lifted my head to find her pacing the width of the room. The scent of her venom flooded my sense as she moved before me. She stopped twice, right in front of me, hesitated as though she was about to say something and then she began pacing again.

After the fourth circuit I could bear it no longer. "Say something, please," I begged.

Her fury seemed to grow exponentially then. She flew to me and pulled me up by the collar of my shirt until I stood before her. She slapped me hard across the face.

"I've been calling you for two days, you don't get to insist I speak to you now!" she roared into my face.

"Alright," I whispered.

She moved away from me and went back to the other side of my desk. She pulled the chair that stood at the side of the room up to the edge of the desk and sat in it. "Tell me," was all she said.

"I will," I told her as I picked up the receiver to the phone on my desk. "You should head home Flick," I told the bewildered girl downstairs.

She bid me a quick farewell and I waited for the sound of her car to retreat before I met Bella's steely gaze again.

"Tell me Edward, everything," she demanded again.

I nodded. "Alright. I called him and asked him to meet me by the cliffs and he did."

She didn't give me a chance to say anything else, to explain what exactly had happened.

She leapt to her feet once again and began roaring at me over the expanse of the desk. "You lured him out there to hurt him!" she bellowed. "How could you? I thought you loved him?"

"I do, I do love him," I bleated ineffectively.

"I don't believe you, I can't trust you anymore, I don't believe a word that comes from your mouth," she seethed.

I deserved that but it still hurt, that she'd not take my word for it. "You may not want to believe me, but it is the truth. Harsh words were exchanged and we fought. I'm not proud of it, but that's what happened."

"You're a hundred and twenty odd years old..." she sneered. "Who struck first?" she asked with an icy stare.

I couldn't lie about it because Seth would never cover for me now. "I did."

"And then you ran away, right?" she hissed across the desk at me. "You fucking left him at the Rez and came here, to hide, right? Your own son! You nearly killed your own fucking son you son of a bitch!"

"I didn't just leave him there, I swear it, I wouldn't do that," I got to my feet too, ready to defend myself. "Carlisle brought him around and he told me to get out. If he could've he would've tried to leap out of that bed and continue the fight right then and there Bella. He threw me out, I didn't run away."

"I would've told you to get the hell out too Edward!" she raged. "What is wrong with you? What the fuck do you think you're doing? Has all the power of being head of the council gone to your head or something? You think you can order us around and be the boss of us, is that what you want from us now? You think you can lay your hands on that boy simply because he said something that made you angry?" she bellowed as she leaned closer to me. "Because I've got news for you Edward. If I put my hands on you every time you said something these past few days that made me angry you'd be ashes on the ground right about now."

I involuntarily sucked in a gulp of air at the viciousness of her words. She'd been angry at me before, I'd fucked up before, but she'd never threatened me this way before. She'd never wished me dead.

"You promised no more violence between us," I told her firmly, my own anger rising at her hypocrisy.

"And so did you. You promised me the same and yet you put your fist through a wall right by my head two days ago. You nearly killed Seth. What will you do next? Will it be Nessa next time? Will it be me? One of the others? One of your councillors? Who's next Edward?"

I was appalled. She couldn't honestly believe I'd ever hurt her or Nessa, could she? "NO!" I roared. "I'd never do that. I'd never hurt you, or Nessa, or the others. I swear it. They're family. I couldn't."

"Listen to yourself," she chuckled darkly and moved away from the desk. She smoothed her hair and then pulled her skirt down a little. "I tore our family apart once because I didn't want Seth to be a part of it and you fought me for him. It was you who made me see that he belongs with us. It was you who convinced me to accept him and yet you hurt him today. Badly by the looks of things. But you say you would never do that to one of your family members? Well Edward, what the hell is Seth then if not a member of our family? I don't understand what went on and I don't understand you right now. I don't want you near MY family for now. You're dangerous and I don't trust you. Don't come to the cottage. Don't contact me. Don't come near Nessa or Seth either for that matter. Stay away from my parents too. I want nothing to do with you."

With that she turned on her heel and walked out of the office and then out of the building.

**Eleazar POV**

After two days of trying to contact him without success I was left with no other option than to go to him. The situation in Romania, and consequently in Russia, was escalating and I had to tell him, and the others now before it went any further.

Bella passed me as she spun the wheels of her car out of the parking lot at the school. She didn't see me wave, nor did she hear me calling her name as she left.

Something was off as I approached the administration building too. I could hear the tinkle of glass and the unmistakable creaks and groans of wood being shattered.

I ran up the stairs and was shocked at what I saw.

The infallible Edward Cullen. On his knees. His office all but destroyed. Sobbing into his hands.

It was true that I'd spent long hours trying to contact him but I could see now that something terrible had happened here, to him personally. I had to put aside my own worries just for now. I'd sort him out, help him if I could, then bother him with my own troubles. Whatever had happened to him was catastrophic. I'd never seen him like this. What that was I had no clue. Nobody had contacted me or sent word to tell me that something had befallen the Cullen's as a whole.

I was wary of entering the office. His rage – sometimes specifically at me – was volatile and unpredictable at best.

But I could not leave him here, like this. I took a step inside the office and surveyed the damage. It was complete and terrifying in its entirety. Every book was shredded, the bookcases themselves reduced to kindling. His desk was caved in two, the two halves standing as if it were now a tent rather than a solid wooden platform. Glass that had once been secured into the window frames that separated this room from the outer one lay in shards along the carpet. Millions of tiny splinters littered the area.

The man himself was a mess too. His shirt a mere rag, torn ripped and bloodied. From what I could see of his hands they too were smeared with dried blood; his nails bore the proof of whatever he'd endured. I took a long pull of the room and knew that it was not human blood, thank heavens. It was not animal either though, and this worried me almost more for I knew this scent well. It was wolf. Specifically Seth's blood.

I approached cautiously. He didn't flinch as I put a hand to his shoulder. It was as though he wasn't really there.

"Edward?" I called softly, hoping to at least engage him. There was nothing. No response. No shift in his posture. He simply continued to sob.

Thankfully it was a Saturday and no human would have need to be here on such a day, so the destruction may go unnoticed if cleaned up quickly. I stepped away from his prone form and dialled Randall. I asked him to bring others, to clean this mess, put it to rights while I handled Edward. He agreed and I knew that he'd not let me down.

"Edward?" I called again as I once again neared him. "Come on, let's get you out of here and cleaned up."

Had he been human he'd have been considered catatonic. As a vampire he was simply inverted. His system had shut down. His brain had more than likely gone into some sort of hibernation to protect him from whatever he'd seen, done or heard.

This would make him more compliant but it worried me that this strong, vital man was seemingly so lost right now.

I got him to his feet and he followed me as a lamb follows its shepherd out of the building. He said nothing. He looked nowhere other than at his feet. I walked us carefully to the edge of the forest and considered my next move. I dialled the Cullen house but got no response. I dialled Bella's cell but it went to voicemail. Carlisle's message told me he was in surgery and that I should leave a message of my own. I was on my own with this for now.

If there was trouble at the Cullen house I shouldn't take him there. Not knowing what had caused this made it difficult to know how to help him but in the end I decided to just get him somewhere quiet, clean him up, get him fed if I could and then I'd set about working out what to do and how to help him.

"Come on," I told him as I began to run.

I hoped he'd follow and he did, thankfully. We weren't far from the safe house in Tacoma. I knew from memory that it was on South Adler Street so I led us there. I'd never been there but it wasn't difficult to find, nor break into.

It was fully stocked, as much as travelling vampires would require anyway, so I located a bathroom and steered him towards it. I stood him, fully clothed, under the hot spray of the shower and left him there for a few minutes while I gathered towels and clothing.

When I returned he'd not moved. He stood exactly where I'd put him. Stock still under the spray. I sighed heavily and got under the spray with him. I wiped the blood from his face and did my best to get it out from under his nails. I used a bar of soap to get it out of his hair and then I dragged him out of the stall and deposited him on the bathmat while I dried myself. My own clothing would take hours to dry but his was not only wet but also ruined.

Cursing having to do it I stripped him to his boxers and wrapped a towel around his shoulders. I left him there to dry – there was no way I was going to dry him myself – and went out into the bedroom to strip off my own clothes. Once I was dry I redressed in whatever was to hand and then went back to my stricken charge.

I pulled a jersey over his head and got him to step into some far too big sweats. It would have to do for now.

I took him down the stairs and sat him on one of the kitchen chairs while I tried to decide what to do next. "Can you tell me what happened?" I asked to no response. "Is there a danger I should know about?" Again no response, not even a flicker of recognition on his face. "Where are Bella and Nessa?" I asked, hoping to use them as a catalyst to break him free of his fog. "Are they safe? Where are they Edward? Your family, where are your family Edward? Where's Seth? Alice and Jasper, the others, where are they?" I asked again. Nothing. Getting frustrated now I began to raise my voice a little. "You have to give me something if I'm to help you man!" I shouted. "Where are the children? At least tell me that. Angel, Nessa, Seth, where are they?" I roared.

Then, very slowly, he raised his head and met my stare. His eyes were dead. Black as night and dead. "Gone," he whispered and lowered his head again.

I left him there then. I fled out the front door and ran as quickly as I could back to Forks. I called everyone I could think of as I ran, desperate to know what he'd meant. They couldn't be gone. It wasn't possible. Someone would've survived – if something catastrophic had occurred – someone would leave and find one of us to let us know. Someone would've called for help. Someone would've done something!

Someone had survived but he was useless to me as he was.

My panic and fear increased the closer I got to town. I flew through the trees at the edge of the highway and stormed through the main house desperate to find out what had happened here. It was all as it should have been. Nothing was out of place. No sign of a struggle, of a fight, of anything. Just their everyday lives.

All the scents were there too. Alice, Jasper, Esme, Carlisle, Emmett, Rose, Angel, Nessa, Bella and Seth. Only Edward's was weak. He'd not been here as recently as the others, but he'd been here all the same. Every scent was represented, plus another I'd only just come to be familiar with. Riley.

Had the threat come from him?

I threw the glass doors aside and ran for the cottage. All was as it should've been there too except for one solitary detail. A fist sized hole in the wall in the hall. It had been cleaned up but not repaired. I sniffed at the hole and found Edward's signature scent. He'd hit this recently.

I ran the path to Emmett's, my panic rising exponentially. It too was deserted but seemed in order. All the scents were present – including those of Peter, Charlotte and Randall - and accounted for and fresh too. Nothing was out of place there. No holes in walls. No sign of anything untoward.

Apart from the carnage in Edward's office and a hole in one wall there was nothing to see. What did it mean? If they were gone where were they now? Had they all perished? All of them? The children too? It couldn't be.

I called Randall. "What do you know?" I asked when he answered.

"About what?"

"Where are they?" I bellowed, frustrated.

"God man, calm down, what's wrong?"

"Who have you got with you?" I asked.

"Um, Esme, Emmett and Jasper, Alice and Rosie and the kid. Pete and Charlotte will be here in a minute; they went to Port Angeles first thing but are doubling back, why? What's going on and what the fuck happened here?"

I let out my long held breath in relief. Some of them were alright. Thank god. "I don't know what happened there and I don't know what happened anywhere else either. I found Edward there, amongst that mess, out of his mind. Something's happened to him but I can't find out what. I've stashed him at the Adler Street house. I'm at the Cullen's now but there's nobody here. Where are Bella, Nessa and Seth?"

"Um, I don't know. Hang on I'll get Esme for you. She might know." I heard him moving about and a hurried conversation with Esme and then her voice came on the line.

"Eleazar? What happened to Edward?" she asked in a rushed panic.

"I don't know my dear, I simply don't know. Do you know where Bella and the children are?"

"Bella and the children are at the cottage as far as I know. Edward has been staying with us the last couple of days but he didn't come home last night, I figured he went home. Are you saying they're missing?" her voice cracked at the end of the question and I mentally kicked myself for worrying her.

"Carlisle, where is Carlisle?"

"At work I think. He took off in a hurry this morning but he does that after he's had a call. He's at the hospital, isn't he?" I could hear the fear in her voice now.

"I'm sure he is. Would you call and check and let me know please? Get that place cleaned up and suitable for humans to view it Monday morning and I'll sort out a few things this end and I'll meet you back at your house in, shall we say, two hours?"

That would give me enough time to find the others and collect Edward again.

"Alright, I'll call the hospital now. I'll go home now, wait for the others."

There were enough bodies to set the school to rights so I didn't argue even though I didn't want her in the house alone until I could unravel what had occurred, but I knew she wouldn't be swayed. "I'll see you there in two hours my dear," I told her and hung up.

I tried Bella's cell one more time and when I got her message bank I left a detailed message for her. I told her Edward was at Adler Street and quite safe for now. I told her that the rest of her family were cleaning at the school and I begged her to call me as soon as she could.

Then I took off towards the Rez. It was the only other place I could think of in the area that might hold either a Cullen or at the very least a Clearwater that could shed some light on what was going on.

The place was in upheaval when I arrived. There were people running all over and the pack were no different. I'd never been here before uninvited and I knew it was a risk to show up unannounced but I'd been left no choice.

I spotted Sam as he came out of the one of the houses and called to him from the trees. He looked up, nodded in my direction and told me I was welcome to approach. Cautiously I made my way to him. He looked rough, like he'd been up all night.

We shook hands and he led me into the house. I had no idea what I was going to see but the rush of relief I felt as I saw the missing members of the Cullen clan was overwhelming.

"Thank god," I gushed as Bella got to her feet, standing from the side of a bed that contained both Nessa and Seth. "What happened?" I asked. "Were they ambushed?" I guessed. Seth looked alright, hurt but alright, alive at least. I guessed that he and Edward had either been jumped or had been set upon and that was why there were both ailing, one physically the other mentally.

Bella looked distraught and I wondered why she was here with the boy and not with her husband. "Come outside a moment," she whispered to me and nodded her head toward the door I'd just entered via.

I followed her willingly, needing to know what we were facing. If there were rogues out there I needed to know. If there was a threat I needed to plan.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked again as soon as we were out of earshot of the others.

"They fought," she whimpered and collapsed against my chest.

I wound my arms around her in shock. Firstly because she was willingly touching me, seeking comfort from me, and secondly because of what she'd just said.

'They fought'. I took it like a sucker punch to my gut. Edward and Seth. Fighting. It was incomprehensible.

**Alice POV**

I knew where Edward was I just didn't know why. Before I heard Eleazar tell Esme on the phone that he was in Tacoma I knew he was there. The vision had come to me as we'd all run towards the school. He'd been missing from my vision for hours beforehand and like the others I assumed it was because he'd finally gone home. With Seth insitu that would make them all disappear for me so I'd just assumed.

Seems I'd been wrong.

He'd been here, at the school, quite recently. His scent was fresh, as was Bella's though there was no sign of her now. His office was wrecked but it was nothing we couldn't rectify. We'd done it hundreds of times, put right someplace that one of us had destroyed so that to the human eye all was well.

I had no problem doing my part but I did wonder why I was. What had caused this? What had happened between Bella and Edward that had led to this? I couldn't 'see' anything and it seemed as though nobody else knew either.

I searched for the members of my family that weren't in the room with me.

Carlisle was at the hospital elbow deep in surgery. I shuddered at the thought. All that blood. Edward was in Tacoma for whatever reason. He was sitting in a kitchen chair huddled in a jersey and sweats, his hair wet from showering. He wasn't moving though. He sat idle.

I couldn't locate either Bella or Nessa and assumed that wherever they were they were with a wolf, or Riley.

Riley. Had Edward gone to meet with Riley and something had happened there? It would be a logical explanation so I dug out my cell phone and called his home. His mother answered and though she had no reason to impart the information she told me that he was safe and well and sitting in the living room with his father watching sports.

I thanked her and hung up, still no wiser to what had gone on.

I searched my mind for others I knew to be in the area. Renee and Charlie were at their respective places of business and seemingly fine. Of course Randall, Peter and Charlotte were with us here in the school, so I searched for Eleazar instead. He too was not to be found despite him having called Esme a few moments ago. That was strange.

I knew from his phone conversation with Randall just now that he'd been at our homes and that they were empty. Nobody at the cottage, nobody at Rosie's, nobody at the big house. That meant that Nessa, Bella and Seth were elsewhere too.

And then it clicked.

Edward's call to Seth last night. Carlisle and Edward's conversation in the study the night before. Bella's calm sadness during the visit. Nessa's lack of concern at her father's absence.

Edward and Seth. Seth and Edward. Edward versus Seth.

Edward's state at the house in Tacoma. My blindness to where the others were.

Edward and Seth.

"Esme you need to go to Bella, you need to be at the Rez for her, NOW!" I roared, startling the others and sending shockwaves of pain and panic to my beautiful Jaz.

Esme didn't even stop to ask why. She was gone, a blur of movement as she fled the room. Jasper was at my side in a heartbeat, pleading with me to tell him what was wrong.

"I don't know for sure, but I think I've worked it out," I whimpered against his chest. The agony of what I thought I knew compressing me until I thought I would come apart with the knowledge. "Seth and Edward, they've hurt each other."

Jaz sucked in a breath but said nothing. He was trying to steady me by taking away the pain of what I knew. It wasn't working but he'd cripple himself by trying anyway. "Go darlin', go to Edward," he told me sternly.

I searched his face to make sure that he was alright and then with a tiny nod I too fled the room.

**BPOV**

I stood in Sam's backyard and clung to the vampire I'd hated most often since my change. He held me firmly, comforting me and trying to calm me by stroking my hair and crooning his assurances.

"It'll be alright," he whispered as I tried to get a hold of myself. "It'll all be alright, you'll see."

I nodded and stepped out of his embrace. Though no tears had sprung from my eyes I still went through the useless human habit of wiping them and my nose. "Where is he?" I asked, knowing Eleazar would understand.

"He's at one of the safe houses," he told me softly.

"Where will he go?" I asked, hating myself for caring.

Eleazar cocked an eyebrow at me before he answered. "I assumed he'd come home, to you."

I shook my head sadly. "No, he won't be coming home to me. Not this time."

Eleazar seemed to accept that at face value and said no more. I was grateful that he didn't question me further on it. We went back inside and I resumed my place beside Seth's bed.

He looked much better after a night of sleep but he still hadn't regained any real strength. Nessa had lain beside him all night, refusing to leave, even to eat. Emily tried to tempt her with all manner of treats but she wouldn't budge. She wouldn't leave him and I couldn't bear to insist.

Seth said nothing. Not a word. He'd meet my eyes but for the seven hours I'd been with him he'd not uttered a word. Sam confirmed that he'd said nothing whilst Edward was there, but I knew that he'd 'told' Edward to leave.

Carlisle had told the pack that he'd be back to check on Seth after his shift at the hospital so I knew that if Carlisle wasn't in constant contact he didn't hold grave fears for Seth's health. Physically I knew he'd be fine but mentally I wasn't so sure.

I wanted to talk to him alone about what had happened, seeing as I'd given Edward no chance to explain, but Seth hadn't been alone as yet. Nessa wouldn't leave and the wolves were never very far from him either.

Emily ushered a clearly distraught Esme into the room and with one look at me her emotions overflowed. She pulled me to her, crushing me against her chest. No longer being human had it advantages at times like this I thought as she let me go and went to Seth's side.

"Oh my poor boy," she crooned as she got to her knees on the floor. "Carlisle has seen him?" she asked me.

I nodded. "He has. He says he'll heal just fine but he needs lots of rest for now."

She too nodded then turned back to Seth. "What happened darling boy?" she asked softly. Her soothing manner flooded the whole room and her care and attention for him was palpable.

Seth looked to Nessa then to me and then back to Esme before shaking his head lightly. It was clear he didn't want to say and I was grateful that he chose not to. Nessa didn't need to know the details.

"My daddy hurt him because he was angry," Nessa whispered sadly before burying her face in Seth's neck once more.

Esme's anguished whimper reverberated around the small room. She stared, wide eyed at Seth and then turned to me. "Is it true?" she asked.

I gave a small nod and tried to get my own emotions under control. I still didn't understand what had happened and I had no details to share, but Nessa knew and I guessed that she had read it from Seth at some point.

"I want to go home," Seth whispered in a raspy voice.

Esme was on her feet then, doing what she did best. Mothering. "I'll run to Harry and Sue and make sure they know you're coming," she told him before kissing his forehead and patting his arm.

Both Harry and Sue had sat with us at various times during the morning so I knew they were close at hand. Moving Seth wouldn't be difficult with his home being only four houses down. I got to my feet and began gathering his few personal items from the dresser.

"No, I want to go home," he whispered again. "To the cottage, with Bella and Nessa," he said a little more firmly.

I was stunned. "Are you sure?" I asked without thinking. "I mean, of course you can come home with me, but are you sure that's best?"

He sat up then and I could tell that it still pained him to do so. "It's where I belong." It was a simple statement and I knew he believed it as much as I did.

"Then I'll take you home," I smiled as I said it and his eyes met mine.

"Thank you," he said quietly and settled back down onto the pillows a little.

It didn't take long to organise. Both Harry and Sue came to see him once more before Sam lifted him from the bed and walked him to where I'd parked the Guardian. I settled him into the backseat and once Nessa was strapped in beside him, his head in her lap, I said a reverent thank you to both Sam and Emily and another to Eleazar before driving slowly through town and towards the big house.

I didn't know who we'd see when we got there but I knew it wouldn't be Edward. Everyone barring Alice was there to help us get Seth to the cottage. Rosie carried his things, Jasper and Emmett carried him carefully through the woods and Esme held the two little girls hands as we followed.

Carlisle ran on ahead to set up the futon in the living room and to make ready to redo the dressings on his wounds should he need it.

We settled him in his bed and Esme began making him soup and tea. When Carlisle was satisfied that he'd healed enough to forgo the dressings Nessa and Angel settled either side of him. He was asleep before Esme had a chance to pour his soup into a mug.

**EPOV**

"She'll come around," Alice said over and over once I'd explained what I'd done and what Bella's reaction had been. "She will. She loves you. She's angry right now but once you explain that it wasn't all you, that Seth had a hand in it too, she'll understand."

I wasn't convinced at all but nodded anyway. Anything to get Alice to shut up for a few minutes. She'd been speaking the entire time she'd been with me and I'd had enough.

Eleazar's arrival was expected so when he came through the front door neither of us was shocked that he was just as angry as Bella.

"What the fuck have you done?" he roared as he approached me. I'd been sitting in the exact position he'd left me in earlier. I couldn't be bothered to move. I had nothing to move for.

"Eleazar!" Alice shouted. "Don't speak to him like that. You don't know what went on and until you do...well, just don't speak to him like that."

He scowled at her and sat opposite me on another kitchen chair. "Then tell me what happened."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. It was none of his business. It had nothing to do with him, at all, and I didn't feel the need to justify my actions to him of all people.

"Well?" he asked again.

"How is he?" I asked instead of giving the explanation he expected.

"He'll live," he muttered darkly. "What happened?"

"Just go Eleazar," I hissed. "This doesn't concern you."

"Like hell it doesn't. I've just spent two hours consoling your wife and watching your daughter cry for her mate. Your mother is distraught, your office is a total wreck and your wife says she won't have you home. I'll ask one more time, what happened?"

I looked to Alice and saw compassion and understanding in her eyes. From her thoughts I knew that she wanted me to tell him, to open up to someone that was removed from the situation so that we could both gain an insight into how others were going to feel about what I'd done.

I let my shoulders drop and sighed in resignation. And then I told him. All of it. My reaction to the Riley situation. Seth. The hole in the wall, my angry words, the fight.

He stayed mute as I poured it all out and when I was finished he punched me on the jaw so hard I flew backwards, shattering the chair I was sitting on, landing on my ass up against the far wall of the room. I'd seen his intent – and Alice must have too - but we both let it happen anyway because I deserved it, and so much more.

"I guess that answers your question," I spat at Alice as I got to my feet.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**As per usual Edward finds himself in some strife and his lack of communication sees him deep into the throws of turmoil. I'd offer him a shovel but hear he'd only dig himself a bigger hole. LOL**

**If you've enjoyed this chapter please let me know, I'd love to know what you're thinking. If you've hate it let me know that too, I'd love the chance to fix it, or explain why it needed to be this way. **


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 24 – Repossession

**BPOV**

Seth recovered quickly but quietly. Very quietly. He hardly spoke at all those first few hours at the cottage. If he did speak it was to me or to Nessa, but never to the others.

Speaking may have been an exaggeration though. He said please and thank you and yes and no but that was about all. He would answer no questions about what had happened on the cliffs and even though Nessa had told me a little I knew that she'd gained the knowledge without Seth's permission and asked her to please stop reading from him until he said she could.

His strength returned fast once his physical wounds healed and his appetite returned soon after. I fed him, and Nessa, and made sure he showered and had changed into clean clothing but his other wounds – his heart and his head – I couldn't help him with. If he didn't open up to me, or anyone else, there was nothing I could do for him but be there if he needed me.

At midday the first of a long string of visitors began to arrive. Esme was first.

She fussed and fawned over him. She sat with Nessa and allowed the sad little girl to lie across her lap and have her hair played with while Seth snored on the futon, Angel tucked into his side. When he woke she fussed some more and when Rosie arrived the process was repeated, but with Rose at the helm.

Less nurturing than Esme, outwardly anyway, she too made it clear to him that he was important to her and that she cared that he was recovering from injuries that could quite likely have proved fatal had he been merely human.

Through both visits he was very quiet. He thanked both women for their concern, but said nothing about what had actually happened or why. They both left with sad faces and quiet words of encouragement for us all. Angel had to be torn from him but she eventually did as her mother bid and left us too.

Peter and Charlotte came by but didn't stay long. Seth's silence left us all unable to do much for him but sit and watch as he rested. For those a little less invested in his wellbeing that quickly became boring. They were concerned, of course, but they recognised their separateness from the family and from Seth himself and parted with the same words of encouragement that Esme and Rosie had imparted.

Carlisle came to check him over and announced him physically fit and well. His ribs had healed and his lung function was back to what it was before it had been punctured. He removed the last of the dressings at his neck and shoulder and apart from a thin pink line where the two halves of the gash had knitted there was hardly any outward evidence of the altercation at all.

That the boys had not visited took me as odd. Perhaps their loyalty to their brother was such that they felt they shouldn't come and either commiserate with Seth or face me knowing, as they surely must by now, that it was my husband that had inflicted the injuries on the boy in the first place. Whatever the reason they were conspicuous in their absence.

Alice too. She'd not called nor come to the cottage. I tried calling her on several occasions across the afternoon but she either didn't answer or she let it go to her message bank. I didn't know where she was and her ignoring my calls meant it would stay that way until she deemed otherwise.

My theories were put to the test when she called at six in the evening. Nessa and Seth were tucked up on the futon after having consumed their evening meal so I took the call out in the courtyard.

"Where are you Alice?" I asked pointedly.

"I'm in Tacoma," she sighed.

I'd thought as much but it still hurt that she'd spent time with Edward but hadn't come to me, or to Seth. "Are Jaz and Emmett with you there then?" I asked.

"Hmm mm," she confirmed cagily. "Eleazar and Randall too," she added hastily at the end.

"I see," I mumbled. Lines had clearly been drawn it seemed. Us and them. "I guess there isn't anything else to say then, is there."

"Please Bella, you don't understand..." she began, but I cut her off.

"Oh please Alice, I understand perfectly. Edward almost kills Seth and half the family goes to him, the other half to Seth. It's pretty obvious what that means."

"No Bella, it's not what you think," she got in before I could stop her.

"I've gotta go Alice, Seth needs me." And with that I hung up on her and switched my phone off completely.

I didn't want to hear from her, or any of the others. How they could condone what Edward had done was beyond me.

**EPOV**

"I'm sorry," Alice told me as she put her arm around me. "I tried but she's so angry still."

"It's okay Ally, I didn't expect her to listen. I've given her no reason to think anything other than what she does. As far as she's concerned I lured Seth to the forest to kill him. That's all she sees. It doesn't matter what the truth is, that's what she believes."

Emmett was on his feet then. "But its bullshit!" he roared. "You can't let her believe that when it's not true."

I was thankful that Emmett had let me tell him the truth before he tore me limb from limb because I doubted I'd have survived Emmett's wrath. He'd been so angry when he'd arrived that it took Alice, Eleazar AND Randall to hold him off while I explained what really happened. It took him another hour to calm down enough to be near me without feeling the need to harm me but he'd eventually settled enough to listen when I spoke.

Jasper had been less violent in his approach but no less indulgent. He had no intention to kill me, but harm me sounded like a pretty good idea in his head. It had been Alice that had made him listen to me.

Randall hadn't cared one way or the other. He'd arrived first out of the three. He'd come direct from putting my office to rights and had sat passively while I told him what had happened. He nodded when required to nod and he shook his head when that was needed too. He didn't form an opinion until I'd explained and once I had he simply told me he understood. He was neither for nor against either one of us, his concern was only for Nessa and Bella.

A few months ago that would've enraged me, but now I was grateful for it. I had no doubt that Bella had meant what she'd said in my office early. She didn't want me near her or Nessa. I was dangerous, unpredictable and violent as she saw it. In her position, without possessing all the facts, it's what I'd see too. I wouldn't want someone – seemingly as out of control as I was – be near our children either. Her forbidding me coming home was the right thing for her to do, however much misguided it actually was. I understood it and to a lesser extent I agreed with her. But I had no intention of not going home to see my daughter. I just needed to let her mother calm down a little and then I would go there and speak with Nessa.

Rosie called Emmett and during that call we learned that Seth had asked to go home to the cottage to recuperate and Bella had agreed. Since then he'd been ensconced in my living room lapping up any and all attention. That explained why Alice couldn't see any of them right now. It didn't help me plan what to do next, but at least I knew where they all were.

From what Rose could gather Seth wasn't speaking. Of course he wasn't going to speak! He'd have to admit his part in all this and that wouldn't do. He'd be banished from the house much as I was and that would mean he'd be without Nessa. He was as cunning as a shithouse rat and I'd completely underestimated him.

If he admitted to Bella what his thinking had been as he approached the cliffs he was as done for as I was. Alienation of her affections would mean not being able to see Nessa and I knew that to him that was unacceptable, especially as his physical wounds healed.

Carlisle has assured me that he would heal and be as good as new in a few days. I hadn't done any lasting damage to him and he confirmed that I'd been right to temper my blows as I had, much more force could've killed him rather than stopping his attempt to end me.

Carlisle was an interesting proponent in this 'battle' of wills.

He neither agreed nor disagreed with either of us, or any of the three of us. He listened as I explained what had happened and accepted it simply. He didn't advise me and he didn't offer shiny platitudes. He simply listened and told me to do my best to make it all right.

I knew from his thoughts that Esme suspected that Seth was hiding something and that was something that intrigued me. Esme was every bit as psychic as Alice at times and as empathetic as Jasper at others. She had Seth's measure for sure.

Those that had listened to me believed me and while some of them would never condone violence they all understood that without acting as I had I might very well be dead myself. Seth's few wounds – though serious at the time – could quite well have been even more serious had I allowed my temper to get the better of me. Those that had listened agreed with that assessment.

That was why it didn't bother me too much that Alice had failed to get Bella to listen. Bella fully believed that I attacked Seth without provocation. She believed that I'd lured the boy to the depths of the forest with the intention to do him harm. Of course I hadn't, but she had no way to know that if she wouldn't speak with me and Seth wouldn't speak at all.

Nessa may be able to read the truth from him but I doubted she had the maturity or the inclination to process what she read if she did.

Bella would learn the truth eventually, either from me if she allowed me to tell it or from Seth once his guilt surfaced, which I knew it would.

Now Bella believed those that were with me had chosen a side. That wasn't true either it just suited her to believe it was. She was angry with me. Angrier, perhaps, than she'd ever been and while I deserved some of it I didn't deserve it all.

Angry words were one thing, angry actions were another. She'd have forgiven me the words, the actions might take a little longer and a more ingenious plan than an apology.

I rose from my seat and shrugged off Alice' arm. "I'm going to talk to my daughter," I announced.

Every one of them begged me not to, to not go near the cottage, but I wouldn't be swayed. Bella could be as angry with me as she pleased, she could deny me access to my own home and she could insist I go nowhere near my children but that didn't mean she could actually stop me.

I ignored the thoughts and pleading of those around me and walked out the front door of the Adler Street house with purpose. I ran at a leisurely pace, in no hurry to get to my destination. I had all the time in the world, my family weren't going anywhere. I went directly to the big house. Esme was quiet as I entered the house. She was not sure yet what to think. She wanted to believe in me, wanted to hope that I would never hurt Seth, but a small part of her – the part that had seen with her own eyes the wounds I'd created – knew that I was capable of it.

Perhaps Bella had been correct and sides had been drawn.

It wasn't like Esme to be this way, especially without having all the details to hand, but knowing this concerned Seth, who was in Esme's eyes a child, she felt it necessary to be angry with me for hurting him no matter how that came about. I didn't want her to be angry but knew that my priority was my family first, my immediate family. I'd deal with the others as the opportunity arose.

I waited until she'd grabbed her keys and berated me sufficiently in her thoughts to assuage her anger a little and when she left I went upstairs. Not a verbal word was shared between us.

I showered and changed into my own clothes. I shaved and made sure I was as pristine as I could be. I made sure there was not a hair out of place nor a mark on me anywhere that would suggest I'd been in a scrape with Seth.

To anyone else that would've seemed preposterous. I should want to show Bella that the fight had hardly been one sided, that Seth had taken his shots when he could, but I didn't want that.

I wanted my wife to see that I was fine. Totally fine. I wanted her to see that I'd come out unscathed. I wanted her angrier still. It was the only way.

**BPOV**

He'd been smart enough to approach the cottage from downwind but not smart enough to out think his own daughter.

"Daddy's here," she whispered to me as I put Seth's dinner dishes into the sink.

I spun on my heel and looked to Seth. He looked terrified. His face had paled and his fists had clenched at his sides. "I won't let him hurt you again," I whispered with a nod of my head to him. He nodded back but said nothing, as silent as he'd been all day. Nessa crawled up his body and put her head on his chest again, stroking his chin with her fingers. "Stay inside, don't come out unless it's me who tells you to, alright?" I asked them both.

With solemn nods they agreed and I made my way out the front door to face my husband.

He came from the direction of the big house, which in itself was hardly surprising given that half the vampires who lived there were on his side. What was surprising was the state of him. Not a hair out of place. His clothing was rigidly stark, as it had been when I'd first met him. Perfectly pressed pants matched with an equally starched and pristine button down. His pea coat undone but none the less perfect. His shoes were his highly polished brogues, his watch on his wrist, and his cuff on the other. His wedding ring gleamed in what was left of the early evening sunlight.

His grin was both adorable and arrogant. I hated it and loved it all at once.

I could tell myself as often as I liked that I didn't want him anymore, that he'd hurt me with his words and had damaged our relationship with his actions, but it was a falsehood of the highest order.

Watching him approach me, the cocky crooked grin plastered across his anything but sorry face made me ache in the basest sense of the word. My whole body shivered at the sight of this magnificent creature. This was my mate, my husband, my lover and my best friend. I wanted to hate him but my body wanted him. His scent floored me, made my body tremble for his touch. His arrogance wasn't repellent, in fact, it made me want to leap to his chest and smother his mouth with mine.

Venom coated my tongue and my arousal coated my core.

The flare of his nostrils as he came to stand before me told me he knew.

"Isabella," he drawled cockily.

"Edward," I all but hissed. "What do you want?"

"I've come to speak with my daughter," he told me flatly.

I settled my eyes on his mouth and then traversed his face until our eyes met. His were bright again, gone was the bleak flat black and in its place were his startlingly beautiful topaz orbs. "I told you yesterday not to come here. You're not welcome. You're dangerous."

He raised one eyebrow as if to challenge me and then he took a small step forward. "I am no more dangerous to you than that which you've invited into _our_ home," he said in little less than a growl.

I had no idea what he was talking about so I took a step back and increased the distance between us. The flavour of his venom was far too intoxicating for me to be too close to him right now. "Well, because of your actions, this is _my _home for now. And I don't want Nessa anywhere near you."

His lip twitched infinitesimally but didn't betray his thoughts in the slightest. He simply clasped his hands over themselves and let them drop in front of his body. "As much as I respect your newfound need to protect her I too have a right to see her," he said calmly. He moved towards me again but kept his hands in their clasped position. "I let you keep her from me once, I will not allow it a second time," he whispered with such quiet menace that I found myself stumbling backward, away from him in fear.

I looked to his eyes and saw that he was deadly serious. He'd come for Nessa. But I had a trump card.

I tilted my head to one side as if to think on it a little when in reality I knew exactly what to do and say to diffuse this situation. Nessa's indifference to his absence would be powerful. She'd not spoken his name nor asked for him since he'd left. She'd not mentioned him or his whereabouts since learning that it was he who'd hurt her Seth either. Nessa was my greatest ally.

"Then we'll leave it up to her. _Our_ daughter has a right to her own feelings and thoughts. If she _wants_ to speak to you I won't stand in her way." It felt a little like shooting fish in a barrel but I allowed it all the same. "Renesmee, would you come outside a moment please darling?" I called softly.

I could hear her moving about inside and when her sad little eyes caught mine in the doorway I hated having to put her through this.

"Hello little one," Edward said smoothly as she approached us.

She slipped her trembling hand into mine and I knew I'd won. She was frightened of him.

"Hello daddy," she mumbled.

He got down on his haunches and faced her at her level. He tapped his temple just once and then she tapped hers. Whatever was going to happen next was going to be kept from me for now.

Nessa concentrated hard on what she was hearing and then she balked. I felt her hand tighten around mine and her heartbeat begin to race. She made a fist with her other hand – her 'tell' – more than evident as she let her father into her mind.

He frowned a little as he listened and I hoped he'd have the good grace to leave quietly, without a scene once she'd told him she didn't wish to speak with him.

Edward got to his feet then and his gaze returned to me. "Nessa needs a word with you in private," he said calmly and I looked down at Nessa for confirmation. She nodded a little and squeezed my hand. "I'll leave you to it," he said then turned on his heel and faced the way he'd come. "But before I go I need you to think on something Isabella." He marched back to me and stood closer to me than he had the entire meeting before whispering in my ear. "The loser of any fight is always seen as the victim, the winner as the fiend."

And with that he was gone.

Nessa waited two full minutes for him to be far enough away and then she tugged my hand. I got down onto my knees, as Edward had done, and waited for her to speak.

"I need to go to the big house to talk with daddy for a little while," she said so quietly I had to strain to hear it correctly. "Don't be cross with me, please mommy. Daddy will bring me back later and I won't run home alone, I promise."

My voice was shaky and came out as a breathy rasp when it did come. "Alright," I told her, totally stunned at the turn of events.

**Renesmee POV**

I knew that mommy was upset but I couldn't help it this time. Daddy had been right and I had to try to be brave and help him make mommy see that things weren't always as easy as they seemed.

My Sethy had had a big fight with my daddy, yes. But he'd been just as angry as daddy had been and he knew he'd made daddy angrier with his words before they hurt each other.

_That's _why Seth didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He was ashamed. He felt bad that he'd driven daddy to violence and he felt awful that mommy believed it was all daddy's fault. I knew it wasn't but Seth had begged me – in his brain – not to tell mommy just yet.

He was afraid that mommy wouldn't let him come near me, just like she didn't want daddy near her. Or she didn't anyway.

All the hours that he'd been gone she had been angry at him. Her brain told me that she didn't want to see him, she didn't want to talk to him and she didn't want to touch him anymore. But, when he came just now she changed her mind. Because of how he _looked_ and how he _smelled. _

It was stupid really. Mommy made no sense in her head. She didn't like him right now but she wanted to smell him. She was angry with him but she wanted him to kiss her. She was hurt by what he'd said but she wanted to be in bed with him.

Seth was feeling very bad about keeping his secret from mommy but I knew he would tell her very soon, but not right now.

He wasn't feeling very good yet, he wasn't strong yet and he needed a lot more rest before he would be. He promised me that when he felt better he'd tell mommy, and the rest of the family and our friends, that he was as much to blame for the fight as daddy was. I'd had to promise him because he'd been crying when he asked and I knew that if he felt bad enough to be crying it was important that I promised.

I knew from mommy's brain that she was sometimes very, very angry at daddy and that right now she didn't want him to come and live with us anymore. I didn't want that. I wanted daddy with us always but I also had to be a big girl and know that I wasn't always going to get what I wanted. I remembered that from that one time that daddy didn't live with us. They both told me that sometimes I wouldn't get what I wanted.

I knew there were things mommy didn't know, things she didn't understand, but I'd promised to keep them all a secret and I didn't want to break a promise to Seth.

So I ran to the big house behind daddy even though I knew it made mommy very sad. He was waiting for me by the pool house and I ran to him and flung myself up into his arms, hugging him tight.

He'd told me already that he was alright but I wanted to make sure for myself. I ran my hands over his face and over his arms, I smelled him long and hard and he felt and smelt just like he always did. Big and strong.

"Is there anything else you need to check?" he laughed as he put me back onto the ground.

"I guess I should check if you're still a good horsey," I giggled.

"I guess you should," he chuckled and bent down so that I could climb up onto his shoulders. "Where to Miss Jockey?" he asked.

"Once around the yard please horsey," I giggled.

He took off then and we ran round and round, not just once, around the yard. I squealed when he sped up and kicked when he slowed down, like we'd done so many times since I was borned.

After a little while he pulled me down and set me on my feet again. He kissed my cheek and hugged me hard. "I love you little one," he whispered.

I held on tightly to his legs and told him I loved him too. I really, really did. I loved my daddy so very much and I didn't like it that he was fighting with my mommy and my Seth. "Will you tell me why Seth got hurt daddy?"

"I will darling, come on, we'll go up to my room."

I put my hand into his big one and we went upstairs so he could help me understand.

The big house was empty. Nana-Me wasn't there and neither was anybody else. It felt weird to be there without them.

Daddy wasn't cross anymore. Not with me, not with Seth and not with mommy. He helped me understand about Riley and about why he had been so scared for me that day. I didn't know that it was wrong to make friends with Riley when I didn't know what he was, but I did now. Daddy helped me to understand. I didn't even get upset.

Mommy, daddy and Sethy had had to kill bad people to stop them from hurting me and daddy was worried that there were still bad people out there who would hurt me if they could. _That_ made me cry but daddy said there was nothing for me to be worried about because it was his job to keep me safe from them.

Daddy told me all about his disagreement with mommy and how sorry he was for saying nasty things to her and to Seth that night. I forgave him quickly. He only wanted to make me safe. We talked about how Seth had been very angry with him for changing my days. He was really angry about not being able to drive with me to school and very angry about daddy telling him he wasn't allowed to phase.

I explained to daddy that Seth needed to phase to stop from hurting in his head and daddy said he didn't know that, but when he was having his grumble that night he didn't want Seth to phase, he wanted him to sit still and listen to what daddy needed him to do.

Daddy told me he called Seth and asked him to come out into the forest to talk about their problems. Seth met daddy near the cliffs but instead of going to meet him as my brown boy he went as a shaggy wolf. Daddy said he was very, very angry and wanted to hurt daddy very much.

I cried then and daddy said that was okay too. He said he was glad that I was sad at the thought of my daddy being hurt. Then he told me that he was so angry at Seth that he wanted to hurt him too and they'd fought.

Daddy tried hard not to hurt Seth too badly but Seth's teeth are very sharp and very pointy and daddy had had to put Seth onto the ground very roughly to stop him from making my daddy dead.

I told daddy that Seth was very naughty for doing that and he agreed, but then he told me that he was just as naughty for hurting Seth too. I said that made lots of good sense.

Daddy hugged me then and we agreed that we were best friends again. He made me promise to take good care of mommy and Seth while they were still angry with him and I did. We even pinkie promised. I'd never break a pinkie promise, especially to daddy.

Daddy walked with me back to the cottage but he didn't come inside to see mommy. He watched as I ran the last little bit and then he ran back to the big house.

Mommy hugged me tight and kissed my hair over and over which was nice, I'd missed her too. She kept sniffing me which was weird but I guessed she just needed to make sure it was me.

I snuggled up beside Seth on the futon in the living room and listened to the nice strong heartbeat of my brown boy.

**Seth POV**

I had to tell her today.

I'd put it off as long as I could and now it had to be said. When Nessa left my side to go into the shower I called Bella over from where she stood at the kitchen sink, probably making me something to eat. That only made me impossibly guiltier.

She nursed me, cared for me, comforted me and loved me and I'd tried to take her husband from her. She was going to hate me.

"What is it?" she asked. Her kind eyes were looking me over, probably trying to decide what it is that I needed.

I hadn't spoken for days, only saying yes and no to anything and everyone. So when I spoke my voice was croaky and my throat raw. "Is he alright?" I asked hesitantly.

She hissed softly and put her hand to my shoulder. The coolness of her skin startled me and I fought the urge to pull away. She was going to hate me and I was going to miss her so much.

"Seth, I don't want you to worry about Edward. He wasn't worried about you when he hurt you so you shouldn't waste your time worrying about him." The hurt and anger in her voice made me feel like utter shit.

"You're wrong," I told her as strongly as I could. "It wasn't how you think it was."

She smiled then but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "You don't have to feel bad for fighting back Seth, you had to defend yourself, and I understand that."

She was killing me with her kindness! I sat up higher on the bed and sighed hard, trying to get it straight in my head what I needed to say. "Listen Bella, mom..." I trailed off and waited for her eyes to widen at the endearment. It was underhanded and sneaky to appeal to her mothering instincts the way I was, but right now I wanted to avoid being cast out as Edward had been. "Mom, I wasn't defending myself. I started it."

She smiled then. "You don't need to lie to me to try and make me feel better. Edward already told me he struck out first."

"He did, but only physically," I mumbled, ashamed. And then I told her everything. From how I'd been feeling the day Nessa outed us to Riley, I told her all about my panic that Riley was there to take Nessa from me and how I'd totally dropped the ball on protecting her. I told her how bad I felt when Edward lost his temper that night, how what he'd said ate at me in the days after. I told her how angry it made me to be told not to phase. I tried to make her see that going to the cliffs that night had been Edward's idea but that I'd gone there with the intention of hurting him, perhaps killing him, for trying to keep me from Nessa. I told her what I said to Edward to make him hit out first and then I begged her to forgive me for trying to kill her husband.

I wasn't above crying, and I did. She sat silently through the whole mess of a story and let me get it all out. When I was done I searched her face for some sign of what she was thinking, what she was feeling, but she was blank.

Just when I thought she might crack, might let me 'have it' or at least say something Nessa came out of her bedroom in her pyjamas and flung herself up onto the bed beside me.

If she'd heard any of what I'd said she showed no sign of it and simply cuddled up against my side like she'd done the night before.

Bella watched her get comfortable and then she stood at the foot of my bed and stared at me. "Do you swear to me that it's the truth?" she asked quietly. I nodded violently while Nessa watched me with her brows pressed together. "Nessa, will you show me what you and daddy talked about earlier?"

Nessa looked to me first and when I nodded she crawled down to the end of the bed and stood up so she was chin height in front of her mother. I knew she knew what I'd done, I'd seen her little eyes scrunch up as she read my mind. I also knew that she wouldn't have kept any of what she knew from Edward and that meant he knew I'd been silent since it had happened. Whether or not he knew why I'd been silent was yet to be seen, but I had no doubt that he and Nessa had discussed the situation.

I watched as Nessa put her hand to Bella's cheek. Bella closed her eyes while Nessa let the memories pour out of her. Bella sucked in a breath here and there and let out a sigh or two but she actually said nothing. When Nessa was finished and had removed her hand Bella kissed her lightly on the top of her head. "Thank you darling," she told a scrambling Nessa who was making her way back to my arms. "Can I trust you with her tonight or should I get one of the others to come sit with you both?" Bella asked me pointedly.

I was so relieved that she'd not torn me limb from limb yet that I started nodding frantically. "I swear it; I'll protect her with my life. I'm so sorry Bell's, I didn't mean to keep it from you, I never meant for it to go this far..."

She smiled then. It was small but it was a smile at least. "I believe you, I need to find Edward."

**EPOV**

There was not a mental thought for miles, nor the scent of any living being be it animal or human though the lingering scent of vampire clung to the sheets of our room. Bella's scent was faint here because it had been a while since we'd slept in this bed, but it was still here.

Her clothing that hung in the closet smelled like her. The bathroom smelled of her scent mixed with her shampoo and the leather of the sofa was a combination of our twin aromas.

I liked it here. I always had. But without her in the room it felt empty.

Nessa's room next door was the same. Without her in it it was just an empty shell. It may smell of my girls but there was no life in it, no laughter, no love and no giggling.

I knew I had to wait. She would only come when she was ready. I wasn't sure for how long but I knew I'd wait for eternity. Either Nessa would show her the truth or Seth would admit to it. I had no doubt that one of those two things would occur, I just didn't know when. Until then I'd be as patient as possible.

The family had come and gone in the intervening hours.

Alice, knowing already what had happened and how, said very little. She didn't avoid me though, we simply communicated privately. Her in her mind, me with simple gestures and signs.

Emmett too was accepting of my reasons though he still wasn't happy with Seth. I begged him to let me say my peace to the boy before he spoke with him and he reluctantly agreed.

Rosie was livid with me. Firstly for having hurt Seth and secondly for what I'd done and said in the cottage to my family. She may now understand it – and since Angel had come to her life she _was_ more understanding – but she hadn't completely forgiven me just yet. Emmett had filled her in on the truth but she found it hard to reconcile how hard I'd fought for the chance to have a family and how easily I seemed to be able to shatter it. Her thoughts kept returning to the time when Bella left me and even though this time was totally different the feelings it stirred inside her were the same. Her family wasn't whole and therefore neither was she.

Jasper hated having the angst in the house again and avoided it when I was in it. I respected that. He was a realist at heart and quickly came to realise that had I not defended myself against Seth the way I had we could've quite easily killed each other outright. That would've hurt Alice and that was something Jasper couldn't abide. Therefore I was off the hook with him too. Alice was alright, she wasn't hurting and as long as Jasper stayed a safe distance from me for a while he could steer clear of my desperation and despair at being separated from Bella.

Esme, whilst deeply disappointed in me, quickly came to the same conclusion as Jasper. Seth being hurt was a small price to pay to keep both her son and Seth in her life. She wasn't happy about what I'd done, nor what Seth had done, but she wanted me to be both safe and happy and that meant forgiving me.

Carlisle, however, was a different kettle of vampire. He neither condoned nor condemned.

Having done what we did in the clearing had changed him permanently. He'd killed to keep my children safe and now one of those children had tried to kill me. To Carlisle that was the ultimate in betrayal. We'd almost sacrificed everything to keep Seth safe and he'd repaid Carlisle's personal sacrifice by trying to take from him all that he held dear. A part of his family.

He may understand what had happened between Seth and I but the vampire inside him was reeling. He came to accept that I was as much to blame as Seth and finally he agreed that the situation was fixable. As with Esme the entire debacle was had silently.

I just had to wait.

A little over nine hours after my meeting with my daughter her mother came through the trees at the back of the yard. I heard her and smelled her. My gut clenched, my venom flowed and my senses all heightened at once.

I counted her steps across the lawn. Thirty nine. It took her another eight paces to navigate the decking and then twelve steps through the living room to the foot of the glass stairs. She was moving quite slowly though, as if every step was considered before being taken.

Eleven stairs between the first and second floor then nineteen paces down the length of the hall. Eleven more stairs saw her at the third floor just twelve paces from the doorway to our rooms.

She knocked. I called her inside.

She looked me over from head to toe, cocking her head to the side as she took me in. "Are you well Edward?" she whispered.

It was an interesting question and one I'd asked her many times during our history together.

"Without you I am nothing," I replied as sincerely as I could.

This meeting could go either way. I had no clues with which to consider my answers and her questions would be asked to me blind. Once again we would argue this out as humans with no vampire skill or gift to hinder it. I hated it and loved it all at the same time. I felt more man than ever.

I was fairly confident that either Nessa or Seth had given her the true details of the altercation by now and judging by the softer look of her facial features I felt sure that she was here now because she wanted me to confirm them.

Three paces into the room she stopped again. I saw the minute movement of her hand as she reached in my direction. I too took three paces towards her, my hand also subconsciously reaching for hers before being withdrawn again.

I didn't know whether she was still angry, though I smelled nothing other than her usual scent mixed with a little hesitation.

"Did he hurt you?" she asked softly and I had my answer. She was concerned for my wellbeing.

I thought about that before answering. Did he hurt my body, no. Did he hurt my heart, yes. Only honesty would be good enough for my Bella, and rightly so. "Yes, but not in any physical way."

She sighed quietly and took another step towards me. I considered her move, smelled the air around her to make sure this wasn't a defensive move and then I mirrored her step and we were now only a foot apart, both panting softly, our scents swirling between us. Hers was making me giddy as it changed. It went instantly from frightened to relieved. It was heady.

"He loves you," she said as she stared into my eyes. "He didn't mean it."

"I love him too and I didn't mean it either," I told her truthfully.

Another two inches of space was swallowed up as we both toed towards the other. The pull I felt towards her was incredible. She was my life, my wife and everything I knew and loved.

"You hurt me," she said with a little renewed fire in her eyes.

"I did," I admitted. "At the time I meant everything I said."

"And now?" she asked hesitantly but defiantly.

I could feel my torso leaning toward her involuntarily. She was still angry and I was nervous but my mind and body knew what I wanted, what I needed and what I craved from her. "I know I have to make amends for some of it, but parts of it I still mean."

"Which parts?" she asked simply.

Again, only complete honesty was ever going to be good enough an answer. I had this chance to state my claims – be them reasonable to her or not – and I took the chance when presented with it.

"She needs protection, Angel too, they shouldn't be alone."

With a slight tilt of her head she regarded me carefully. Her answer, when it came, was precise and measured. "Agreed," she whispered, her eyes never leaving mine.

I began to feel a little of the relief now. My venom flow slowed in my mouth and I allowed my shoulders to come down from their previously defensive clench. If she was willing to negotiate we might have a chance here. I did not wish to push my luck, happy that she was here with me at least willing to speak to me, but I could not hide what I wanted, what I needed to happen to make our daughter safe. I steeled myself to continue. "No more truck. They take the Guardian when they are together or they come with us."

"Agreed," she whispered again. This time she didn't consider, she merely nodded and agreed.

Could we really get through this this way? Did she realise the parts of my rant that were right? Could she disregard the parts that were sheer parental fear, the pieces that were irrational and borne from fear? Could she forgive me my stupidity at questioning her abilities?

I went on sure that we could do this like adults. "Cell phones, both of them, all three of them, fuck...Riley too if he's going to be coming around them." I allowed myself one swipe through my hair with my fingers in an attempt to control the panic I felt at the thought of the little girls alone and frightened for some reason.

"Agreed, though that is Emmett and Rosie's decision on Angel's behalf."

Again she'd agreed. I sighed. She was right here, in front of me, beautiful and angry and agreeing with me. She was my life.

"They never hunt alone."

"Agreed."

"We must make sure that Renesmee appears as human as possible from here on in. No exceptions. If she is discovered to be anything other than she is our peaceful life here is over," I told her firmly hoping that she'd see the sense in the statement.

"Agreed."

"She needs to be taught to defend herself," I pressed, knowing this would upset and likely anger Bella simply because I'd refused to teach her at one time.

Her eyes flashed, "Agreed," she hissed.

My breath was coming in short pants now. She was so close to me, our chests were almost touching. I could smell the heat of her anger, the change in her scent as her desire rose. Mine was now barely containable. It was just so human. She was just so human to me. We stood and argued it out, without anger, without violence, without slipping into a crouch and without hissing or spitting. Too much anyway. It was our most human moment to date and it made me want her more than I thought was possible.

"She needs to be able to read people when she thinks something is off about them. She's smarter than we give her credit for, so is he. I don't want to discourage that within her, I don't want to smother her despite what I said that night. If she thinks she's going to get into trouble with us she'll stop being so aware of those around her and she could get hurt if she doesn't pick up on something important." I didn't want to bring this to a close by making Bella angrier but I honestly believed what I was saying so I went on with it, to make her see what I believed it. "Nessa needs to be given free rein to use the gift we gave her at birth. It isn't a party trick. It isn't a joke. It can be used to benefit her and she should use it if she can. She has it at her disposal and she could and should use it to keep herself as safe as possible. We have over parented her, I've smothered her and we've both coddled her. If she'd been confident in her own abilities the situation with Riley may have gone differently for all concerned."

I slumped as I finished and awaited her reply.

"Agreed," Bella whispered, startling me with the ease with which she accepted what I'd said.

I didn't know what to say now. She'd agreed with all I wanted and I had nothing else to negotiate. So I went with honesty one more time. "The rest was bullshit," I muttered.

"Was it?" she asked immediately, fiercely. I nodded but her eyes had darkened considerably since I'd said it so I knew she had issues with the rest of what I'd said.

Arguing with the human side of my wife was one thing but arguing with another vampire could be tricky. And she was definitely all vampire right now. Her scent had strengthened, her nostrils had flared and her fists clenched rhythmically at her side. This was difficult because I couldn't read her and because I had been wrong, so very wrong with all my other ranting that night. Almost perfect memory and recall made it difficult to dispute what had been said, even days or months ago, so even though I had been in a rage and almost out of control at the time I knew Bella would recall every word I'd uttered.

"I was angry, scared." The admission made me feel small even as I made it.

She licked her bottom lip and as she exhaled the scent of her delicious venom floated to me across the now very small space between us.

She was ready to say her peace and I had no doubt I was about to hear some home truths and they were to be delivered by my vampire wife, not my human one. The shift was palpable as she crouched ever so minutely.

"Is it a mistake that she's around Angel?" she demanded first off.

Fear exploded in my chest because now I knew what was coming. Each of my horrible, anger fuelled, ignorant statements were going to come back at me and I had no excuses for any of them. I could not defend them because they'd been shouted in anger. They were illogical and I knew that now. I just had to weather this and hopefully we'd move forward.

This part was either going to make or break us.

"No." I said it as confidently as I could.

She didn't wait or consider before demanding the next. "Being with my mother, was that a mistake Edward?"

"No."

Again no break to consider. She peppered me with her questions and I answered as honestly and as quickly as I could. "At our school, is that a mistake for her?"

"No."

"Seth. Entrusting her to Seth, is that a mistake?"

"No, but it's not without conditions."

"I concede to the conditions," she said smoothly. I tensed; I knew what was coming next. I'd all but called her useless as a mother and as a vampire and I knew how much it had hurt her. "Seth and I have killed for her before, I WILL do it again."

"I know," I sighed, reaching for her hand subconsciously.

She looked down to where we were now connected, however minutely, and then returned her eyes to mine. They flashed a warning and I immediately understood it. She was Nessa's mother and nothing, not even me, would stand in the way of her protecting that child.

"If you put your hands on either of my children in anger again I will destroy you," she hissed.

I believed her, fully. "I know," I agreed.

"If you destroy anything in my home in a fit of rage again I will leave you and I won't come back."

"Agreed."

"I won't follow you blindly. I have rights and I intend to exercise them."

I didn't understand what she meant, I couldn't think how I'd denied her her rights, but could do nothing but agree. "Agreed."

"If you want me to be submissive, to agree with you despite having a brain of my own, we're done for."

"Agreed."

"You promised me we'd be equals and I've kept my end of that bargain. You let me down."

"I won't ever again."

We were going back and forth as vampires now. Bullet fast and so quietly no human would've been able to discern what was said.

"If you ever call me 'barely a vampire' again I will destroy you with my own hands."

"I won't, ever again. I didn't mean it."

"Will you make this right with Seth?"

"I will."

"Will you forgive me for all I said in your office?"

"I have."

"Do you love me?"

"Eternally. Only you Bella, only ever you, I swear it."

"Your turn," she whispered.

I knew what this was. This was a cleansing. This was our chance to get all our cards out onto the table. To wipe away all this hurt and anger before we started yet again. I realised that I needed this too. I needed to be heard by her. I needed her to hear what I thought – regardless of whether she agreed I needed her to listen – and she needed me to hear her too.

"Will you forgive me for hurting you with words?"

"I have."

"Please forgive me for not trusting you to protect her?"

"I will."

It wasn't quite the all encompassing agreement I wanted but I understood it. She wasn't quite there yet, she would forgive me, but she wasn't quite there.

"Forgive me my part in Seth's injuries, please?"

"I will."

"I'm sorry I hit the wall so near to you. I was so angry. I felt so out of control. I felt as though you were dismissing my fears for her and I lost it. Please forgive me."

"I have."

"Do you love me Isabella?"

There was no hesitation. No thought process and her soft smile was magnificent. As her hand squeezed mine just a little she leaned a little closer still. "Only ever you Edward."

"What now?" I asked, trembling with need.

"Now I tell you I'm sorry for not listening to you once more. I am. So sorry," she whispered as she pressed herself to my chest.

"And I tell you once more how very sorry I am."

I let my free hand slide across her waist and settle at the small of her back. I pulled her to me harder, loving the feel of her soft curves up against me.

"And now?" she asked, echoing my previous question.

"And now I make love to my wife," I told her before devouring her lips with mine.

**BPOV**

I forced my tongue into his mouth at the same time he forced his into mine. This kiss wasn't loving, though it sprang from love so deep it quaked inside us.

The sting of my skin where his body touched mine made me shiver as his long, lithe fingers closed around my waist. I fisted his hair for the first time in what felt like years. I tugged and pulled, scratched at this scalp and demanded his kiss harder against my mouth.

Extracting his mouth from mine – which couldn't have been at all easy – he trailed hot, wet kisses to my ear then down the column of my throat. Everywhere his lips touched left a trail of white hot fire.

"I need you," he rasped against my collarbone as he tore my jersey from my body.

I clutched his hair tighter and pulled and pushed until his mouth was where I wanted it. Over my tattoo.

He traced his name with first his lips and then his tongue, leaving a stripe of his silvery venom along its curves and lines. His teeth found my nipple next and I arched my back into the pleasure. His hands came up to cup my breasts from underneath, his thumbs strumming across the nipples as his teeth bit down again and again, filling me with the delicious sting of his essence.

His shirt joined mine, a tattered rag on the floor at our feet. My nails raked his back and shoulders as I held him firmly to my chest.

He walked us backwards then. He pushed me hard up against the doorframe to the bathroom, never ceasing his ministrations at my breasts. I shifted until the uppermost length of my thigh was wedged between his legs, pressing his erection and making him moan against my flesh.

"Ahh," I sighed when his fingers split the crotch from my jeans. "Oh god," I cried when they finally fell to pool at my ankles and his fingers were buried deep inside me.

He stroked me long and hard. With one hand around behind me, cupping my ass cheek in his palm, and the other buried to his knuckles inside me he ground the heel of his hand against my clit.

I rocked, as best I could, against him until the first teasing of my orgasm flooded my nervous system. I mumbled incoherently as it built.

"Cum," he growled. "Cum on my fingers."

It was as though a switch had been flicked. As he finished his decree I shuddered once and did as he'd bid me. More fire spread through my body. White light flickered before my eyes. A deep, satisfying purr came from his mouth and washed across my nipple when he felt my inner muscles clamp down on his fingers.

"Yes," he hissed, his breath making my nipple ache as it washed over the liquid ice of his venom. "Yes, you cum for me."

He moved us again then. He scooped me up and walked with me in his massive hands towards our bed. He threw me and I landed with a thud against the mattress, the tiny legs that held it off the ground splintering with the force of his throw and my landing. His dark, dangerous eyes travelled up my body. He gave a slight nod of his head in my direction and without words I knew what he wanted from me.

I pulled my own ruined jeans off my legs and flung them to the floor beside the bed. His joined them within seconds and then he stood before me naked, glorious, hard and all mine.

He stalked me; much as he had the day he'd confessed to me what he was, up the length of the bed until he was between my thighs. He kissed me only once more before he plunged himself into me in one long stroke.

I know I screamed but what I screamed made no sense. A mixture of his name, my love for him, how much I hated it when we fought and the need I desperately wanted him to satiate.

'_God...Isabella...you feel so...god...'_ his thoughts came to me the instant I'd been impaled on his length.

'Yes, yes, there,' I told him silently as I pushed and bucked and rocked against him.

His thoughts were only for me and the pleasure I was giving him as he thrust harder and faster into me. He hooked his arm under my thigh and hoisted my leg over his shoulder going deeper than ever before. Had I been human I'd have broken in two when he leaned forward and put his tongue back into my mouth.

But I wasn't human and I certainly wasn't fragile anymore.

'Vampire,' I told him mentally as he fed from my mouth with his tongue.

'_Ahh...what...?'_ he asked, never backing off from his thrusts as he questioned me.

'I don't want the man, I want the vampire,' I 'told' him as I reached yet again for another release.

He broke the kiss and withdrew almost fully. Leaning back on his heels he looked down to where we were joined and as his eyes returned to mine he let the most determined, heartbreakingly arrogant look come across his face. The smirk at his lips after he licked them almost frightened me.

"You want the vampire Isabella?" he asked hoarsely, out loud.

I nodded but he didn't want for my answer.

He withdrew completely from my body but I didn't have a chance to whimper my protest for in the same second he flipped me over and forced me to the mattress on my stomach. He forced my legs apart using his knees and plunged himself back into me with wild abandon. He wrenched my head backwards using a fist full of my hair and when his lips came into contact with my ear he hissed.

"Mine, all fucking mine. Woman, vampire, Isabella. All ...fucking...mine."

Each of his last three words was punctuated with a mighty plunge into me and I cried out at the ecstasy of it.

He set an impossible pace and within seconds I was plunging headlong into my third orgasm. This was possession. He was reclaiming me as his. Stamping his mark on my body and on my mind as he had me.

He let me ride it out and then he copied his previous pace. "Say it," he roared right by my ear.

I knew what he needed to hear. "Mine," I growled.

"Say it again," he demanded. "Louder."

"You're fucking mine," I bellowed as he reefed my head back once again so he could plunder my mouth with his tongue.

He left my mouth but kept his lips on my skin as he travelled across my cheek, over the shell of my ear and down to the back of my neck. He roughly pulled my hair aside and then his teeth were imbedded into my flesh.

"Yesss," I hissed as his venom entered me. "Mine," I roared when his teeth left me briefly and then found another spot just a little further down my shoulder blade.

He let my hair go then and repositioned his hands on my hips, pulling me onto him with such force that the rocking motion made the headboard of our beautiful bed slam up against the plaster of the wall. Once again plaster dust began to rain down around us as Edward began to pant his nearness.

His nails dug into my hips as he hissed, spat and roared his pleasure.

I bucked and moaned as I neared my next release. When it came it was mighty and it took Edward with me. He sunk his teeth into the back of my shoulder as he emptied himself deep inside me.

We collapsed to what was left of the mattress and clung to one another. He kissed me softly everywhere his lips could reach. I stroked his hair, his face and his back as I echoed his words of undying love.

We'd come so far from those lost, childish people who met in that biology lab but one thing had never changed. The passion between us knew no bounds.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**I apologise for the lateness of this update. RL has a way of creeping in just when I'm at my most creative ;)**

**Please review. **


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 25 – Declaration

**EPOV**

We had destroyed the bed completely by the time the sun came up that Sunday morning. Our room was covered in a fine layer of plaster dust and the mattress had seen its last dawn. Down feathers floated about the room and clung to our hair as we moved about.

Bella giggled adorably when she surveyed the damage on her way to the bathroom and I wore a smug smile all morning.

The family joined us a little after first light and I could tell from Alice' thoughts that she'd seen some of what had gone on. She deliberately ran through some of the more...provocative - for want of a better word, parts of the evening as she sat opposite me at the kitchen counter.

"So...Edward...how was your evening?" she asked with a giggle.

Bella swatted at her with the dishtowel and giggled herself in response.

"That's none of your business," I laughed.

Esme came into the room then, smiling widely. "I take it you two have sorted out your mess?" she trilled as she took the dishtowel from Bella's hands and slid it back onto its rail at the oven.

"Yeah," I smirked.

"Good," she replied sternly. "Then you can run home and sort out the mess you left there too."

That stopped us both in our tracks. Bella looked to me with frightened eyes. I knew what she was thinking. Seth.

Bella dropped her eyes to the counter as I tried to ignore the hurt and anger in Esme's thoughts. She believed that Bella had given in to me too easily. She believed that the sex between us should not have absolved my guilt. She honestly believed that we'd not resolved too much of anything having handled things the way we had.

I resented her interference but I understood it too. I went to her and wrapped my arms around her waist. I kissed her softly at her temple and whispered into her ear. "I love you as a son should love his mother, but this is our business."

She nodded minutely and that was to be an end to it as far as I was concerned.

Bella and I called our own hasty goodbye to each of the family as we made a run for the backyard and the cottage. Her hand in mine trembled the whole way. I wanted to promise her that it was all going to be alright but, not for the first time ever, I didn't want to promise something I wasn't one hundred percent sure I could deliver. There were so many unknowns now. How Seth would react to me being there? How Nessa would react if he behaved badly, or rejected me outright? What it would mean for us if neither of them was willing to let me make amends and have my say? There was no way to tell without just going there and doing what I needed to do.

The cottage was quiet as we approached. No unusual scents were present and only the thoughts of our children were available for me to listen to as we ran closer.

Bella pulled me to a stop a hundred yards from the front door and tugged me to her chest. "Please don't let him goad you again. He's just a boy."

I kissed her hair and inhaled her scent. "I'll make this right, you'll see," I told her as confidently as I could.

She kissed the underside of my jaw as she nodded but said nothing more.

Seth was doing his and Nessa's breakfast dishes as we came through the front door. He didn't turn to face us but his thoughts betrayed his curiosity.

Would I be angry still? Would I want to fight again? Could he run, should he run?

"Daddy!" Nessa bellowed as she ran to me.

I scooped her up and kissed her all over her little smiling face. She mentally thanked me for coming home and I told her mentally that I had missed her and that everything was going to be alright now.

I let her down and she repeated the process with Bella, allowing her mother to kiss her all over the face too. I moved to the sink and stood beside a now trembling Seth.

I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping it would steady him. "Leave those," I nodded towards the dishes and he let the last one slip through his hands back into the soapy water. "I want to ask you to run with me but don't want you to be frightened or worried. I'm not angry anymore, I don't want to fight with you and I don't want to hurt you ever again."

His shoulders slumped a little as he blew out his long held breath. "I don't want to fight," he mumbled.

"I swear to you I just want to talk to you. You have nothing to fear from me. We have to talk about this. I need you to hear me, son," I told him as calmly as I could.

He turned then and my hand slipped from his shoulder. He dried his hands on the dishcloth and threw it back onto the counter. Without meeting my eyes he made his reply. "Where will we run to?" he asked, all the while thinking that he should steer me towards the Rez just in case he needed back up. The pack would hear his plea if we were close enough.

"Wherever you're most comfortable," I conceded.

He nodded once and fled out the front door. He'd phased before I caught him up not a hundred feet from it.

I spent four hours out in the forest with him; trying to make sure he knew and understood that I was sorry and that I hadn't raised my fist to him in anger. I told him that he'd never have anything to fear from me and that I'd never get physical with him ever again.

He yelled and told me I couldn't promise something like that because neither of us knew what the future was going to hold.

I had to agree, we didn't, and not even Alice could tell us.

I also agreed that there were now many unknowns. All of this, our life, was unchartered territory both for vampire and wolf and even for the hybrids who shared our lives. There was no map and there was no manual for any of this. I was flying as blind as he was. Neither of us liked it.

So we sat in the sunshine and made an agreement of sorts. I explained all that I'd talked with Bella about the night before and laid out all the plans we'd made to keep Nessa and him safe.

I tried to include him in as many of the decisions as possible even though we'd already made them without him. But it was important to me, and to him, that he be a part of that process. He was one hundred percent sure that he'd be spending the rest of his life with us, or near us, and he wanted to be able to do that with our blessing. If that meant he had to compromise some of his past freedoms to be near us, and ultimately Nessa, then he was fully prepared to do that. It was admirable and I told him so often that afternoon.

Between us we agreed that had we come at this, in this manner in the first place, the altercation between us wouldn't have ever happened. He, quite rightly, pointed out that it had been me who'd lost my temper first.

I politely told him that he hadn't arrived at the cliffs with any intention of discussing. He quickly agreed. He added that he knew and understood that I'd hurt him by trying not to hurt him. It made no sense outwardly but we both knew that if I'd really wanted to hurt him he'd have been hurt, possibly killed. I knew the same was true for him. If he truly had wanted me dead I'd be ashes by now. I had blocked him and had tried to temper myself so the damage had been minimal but he also knew that had I wanted to he wouldn't be standing beside me now.

I made it very clear to him that we – Bella and I – would always have the last word on Nessa's safety while she was growing. I made it plain that whilst we did value his opinion we wouldn't necessarily take it into consideration if we thought differently.

He shocked me when he agreed. He told me very sincerely that he might look like a man and might be thought of as a man within the pack but he was really only a boy when it came to his relationship with Nessa. It was humbling to hear him defer to me. For all that he was, as far as he'd come, as often as he'd fought for her and for us he saw me as mentor, brother, father and leader.

With the posturing out of the way – and our roles in this unorthodox family once again defined - we settled down to talk about how to keep our girls safe.

He could drive the truck wherever he wanted to as long as Nessa wasn't in it with him. He agreed that the truck would be for his use only and that the Guardian was a safer option if he was with her. He also agreed that his cell phone would never be out of his reach, ever, and that Nessa should have one too. He thought it was amusing to think of a little girl carrying a cell phone but agreed that it was a good idea. He agreed that she shouldn't hunt alone, that neither of them should hunt alone, and that they'd come with one of us from now on.

We disagreed on him being allowed to have friends over but eventually we came to a compromise on that too. He could have his human friends both at the big house and at the cottage. They posed no threat to either Nessa or himself. He could bring Riley to the big house if it was alright with Rosie and Em. He could bring Riley to the cottage as long as either myself or Bella was going to be there. Whatever he wanted to do with his friends at the Rez was up to him and his pack.

He seemed content with that in the end.

I found my resolve wavering when it came to the issue of Nessa reading from humans. I hadn't talked to her about this yet and it seemed disrespectful in some ways that I was discussing it with him before her, but I needed him to understand it.

He thought she was mature enough to understand what was right with it and what was wrong. He was worried that she'd hear things that might hurt her feelings and while I agreed that was possibly true I tried to make him see that that wasn't necessarily a bad thing either.

Girls and boys, of all ages, have their feelings hurt. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident and sometimes just through sheer bad luck at overhearing a comment or conversation that wasn't meant for them. I didn't think that Nessa would be any different. Vampire, human or hybrid at some point in her life she would hear something that made her feel bad.

Was it right to shield her from that? Probably not. Didn't every parent want to protect their child from it? Damn straight.

Seth countered that she would learn other things, meaning adult concepts, language and probably sexual things, from those around her if she was given free rein to listen and read from the humans around her. I told him that whilst we might not like her being exposed to that we had to accept it.

I reminded him that since my change I'd heard the thoughts and intentions of millions of humans and was rarely bothered by their day to day thoughts. He countered that I was an adult. I replied that at seventeen, in my time, was hardly an adult mentally even though physically I was considered one. I'd managed alright in my day and I'd even managed to save myself until I'd fallen in love. We could only hope that the morals we'd instilled in Nessa would stand her in good stead when the time came for her to make those choices. I couldn't very well insist she stay chaste until she was married when her mother and I hadn't. But for now I didn't want to think about that and neither did Seth.

His fear for her was well founded but her safety came first, in all circumstances. We had to agree that letting her read from those around her was the way forward and that any problems that arose concerning anything she heard we'd deal with as it happened.

When I mentioned Renesmee needing to learn to defend herself he became quiet. The mental storm brewing in his thoughts was quickly quieted when he came to see that it was the right course to take for us all. The same flash of irony flew through his thoughts and his facial expression when he remembered my reluctance to teach Bella. I told him of my mistake then and my unwillingness to repeat it with my daughter. He agreed to both my mistake and to wanting to help rectify it with the next generation.

Silence descended again and I felt it become uncomfortable as I listened to his thoughts. There was only one more point he wished to discuss with me but he was unsure what my reaction was going to be. He reworded it a dozen times in his head before I stepped in to open that particular can of worms.

"I told you not to phase," I mumbled, hoping it would make it easier for him to broach the subject now.

I saw the flash of anger on his face as he replayed my words in his mind. "Yeah, you did," he mumbled back.

"Can you control it?" I asked, knowing full well he could not. Not yet anyway. I needed to have this conversation with him because I'd promised Sam that I would.

After the Alpha learned the truth of what had happened on the cliffs he'd sought me out in Tacoma. Angry words had been exchanged, at first, despite Sam knowing and understanding the circumstances. His one remaining concern was Seth's ability to control his urges. A slip, or phasing at the wrong time, could have disastrous consequences that Sam was well aware of. Looking at the scars on Emily's face every day was a constant reminder to Sam at just how easy it was to lose control.

"I thought I could," Seth mumbled, ashamed.

I put my hand back to his shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. "I think you can. Generally I think you can."

"Yeah, generally."

"Can you tell me what was different this time? I've seen you provoked before and I've seen you desperate to phase before too, but you always shook it off. What was different this time?"

"Nessa," he whispered. "You were so angry and even Bella couldn't calm you down. And when you hovered over me on that sofa all I could think of was what would happen if you lost control near Nessa. I tried to fight it as best I could, but it was so hard."

"I pushed you too far when I insisted, didn't I?" I asked though I already knew the answer.

"Yeah. Something like that," he muttered darkly.

"Nessa told me that it made your head hurt to fight it, is that true, does it hurt you?" I asked cautiously. He was uncomfortable speaking with me about things like this; he didn't want to show me any weakness. It was sweet, but not necessary.

"It's not like pain pain. That night, when you were yelling and shit, I tried so hard to fight it. Later she asked me why I'd been thinking that my head was going to burst. She thinks it would've, like literally burst." He shrugged but I knew it hurt him at the time and it still did.

"Okay, I can accept that. It might not literally hurt you but it wasn't right of me to demand you not do something that comes naturally to you. I won't do that again, but I expect you to be more responsible. You'll need to excuse yourself, get far enough away, outside perhaps?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for, I provoked you that night and I was wrong to insist you don't phase."

"Fair enough," he mumbled and kicked at the dirt with the toe of his trainer.

There was only one thing left to say and I hated having to bring it up, but it had to happen sooner or later. "And now, how do you intend to make this right with Bella?" I asked cautiously.

At this he hung his head. He was ashamed at the silence he'd let go on too long. He was sorry that he'd lied to her, even though it was by omission and not verbally. "I don't know."

"Yes you do," I chuckled. "Tell her the truth. It's the only way."

"Do you think she'll accept my apology?"

"Of course. She loves you, son."

He smiled at the endearment but kept his face turned down to the ground. "I love her too, dad."

Now it was my turn to smile. I put my hand to his shoulder and allowed myself another quick smile when he didn't flinch or pull away. He wasn't angry anymore and he was no longer frightened of me. We'd be alright.

**BPOV**

They were gone for hours. The longer they took the more worried I got. Were they fighting again? Were angry words going to be shared, again? Would Seth agree with what Edward and I had decided?

Nessa carried on as though nothing had changed. She ate her breakfast, tidied her room, played with her dolls. She was itching for her father and Seth to return, as was I, but she was far more composed about it than I was.

At midday Rosie called and asked if we could all meet at the big house at seven in the evening. I agreed that we had a lot to talk about, concerning the girls and their safety, and agreed to the meeting. There was no reason not to, despite knowing how angry Rose was with Edward. They'd sort their own issues out, just as we had.

The only thing remaining for me to do was to say my peace with Seth. I wasn't sure how to feel about his deception, if you could call it that, but I knew that a lie by omission was still a lie.

The cottage was clean, the laundry done, Nessa and Seth's dinner in the oven and my lesson plans done for the coming week by the time Nessa began to squeal about the return of the men.

I met them at the door and pulled Edward to me, hard. He inhaled from my hair and sighed deeply in my arms, probably just as relieved to be with me as I was to see him whole and unharmed.

I might be a vampire myself now – and virtually indestructible – but my brain always worried for Edward's safety.

"Take a walk with me?" Seth asked softly the instant I let Edward go.

I didn't hesitate, "Sure, lead the way."

"I'll talk with Nessa about our plans while you're gone," Edward whispered. Then with one last squeeze of my hand in encouragement I took off, following Seth's lead, towards the clearing in the woods and 'misery rock'.

He waited until I was sitting on it before he morphed into a taller, darker version of Edward and began to pace in front of me. I gave him the time he needed and waited patiently. Eventually he stopped pacing and faced me fully. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lie about anything and I wanted to tell you right away but I was afraid."

With his head bowed low, and him not meeting my eyes, I knew what it cost him to admit to his fear. "Can you tell me what really happened?" I asked carefully.

"You already know," he toed the ground with his shoe as he said it.

"Of course I do, but I'd like you to explain to me your part in it, please?"

He huffed once then did something so 'Edward' I had to stifle my gasp. He pushed his fingers through his hair and bit his bottom lip. "It was so fucked up," he grumbled. "I was totally out of control, so angry, I couldn't think straight." I let him go, knowing he wasn't done yet. "He called and asked me to meet him and I swear I didn't say I'd go with the thought to hurting him, I swear I didn't. But as I was running towards him I just...shit I don't know...I just lost it Bell's. I thought he was going to keep me from Nessa, I thought that everything was going to change. The way he spoke to me, to you, that night, I don't know I just saw red and phased without thinking. I didn't mean to do anything to him but we were arguing and I had already phased and then I just..."

"You lost control," I finished for him.

"Yeah, I did."

"Edward lost control the night before, that's what got you so angry in the first place," I pointed out, hoping he'd see my point.

I knew when he did because for the first time all day he met my eyes. "Shit, I never thought of it that way."

"I know you didn't," I soothed. "Look, you were both angry and really you both acted out the same way, so neither is guiltier than the other. But, the reasons it went this far are what's important. Nessa is OUR responsibility Seth. We're her parents and while I don't really agree with the way Edward went about this I do agree with a lot of what he said. Okay, not at the time I didn't, I was angry and shocked too, but now...now I agree with him. We all dropped the ball with this Riley thing, all of us. Nessa for not telling us what she read from him, you for just taking him home right after, me for not being here when he was and Edward for not doing more to try to find out who it was that he could hear and why. None of us are innocent in this, well maybe Nessa is to a point, but things do have to change now Seth. Can you see that?"

"Yeah, I know," he rubbed his hair again. "I've talked to Edward about that and we've agreed on some stuff."

"Good," I said, quite proud of them both for having it out civilly. At least I hoped it had been civil. "So, all I want to say now is that I'd never keep you from her, Seth. Never. We've been there, done that, and it didn't work, for any of us. Edward wouldn't either. He might have said he would in the heat of the moment but you know he would never. He fought in your corner Seth, right from the start, he never wanted you to feel the pain of separation that he did with me."

"Yeah, I know you guys would never...well, I guess I know now that you guys would never do that to me. I'm sorry for all of this you know? It's all my fault." He shook his head sadly.

I went to him then. I didn't say anything at first even though I really, really wanted to tell him that nothing was his fault. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight, like I used to, right back at the start. He slumped against me and let me hold him. It was nice. Very nice. He was so warm and even though he smelled awful it still felt good to hold him.

Really he was holding me. He was so big now, much taller than even Edward, so I held onto him and he held onto me. "There is no blame here," I whispered against his chest. "It all got out of hand but we'll get past this. We'll roll with the punches," I giggled.

He laughed too and I felt it right through my body. "Yeah, the punches," he chuckled.

"No more punches," I whispered, serious now.

"No more punches," he agreed quietly.

"Love you Seth," I mumbled.

"Love you too, mom," he mumbled into my hair as he kissed it.

I couldn't help but smile then. I was his mom as surely as Sue was. I took care of him just like she did. He might be big, he might be a wolf and second in command of a pack and a member of a tribe that was foreign to me, but I was his mother. And I loved him.

**EPOV**

My talk with Nessa went surprisingly smoothly. She'd read most of it from my mind before I even opened my mouth, making it easier to tell her of our new security measures. She understood most of it right away making me think we'd severely underestimated her. She wasn't keen to have the responsibility of a cell phone but understood why she needed to have one. She was worried that she'd not be allowed her little human friends but once I'd reassured her that there was no reason she couldn't she settled.

Once Bella and Seth returned from their talk our home became its usual pleasant self. Our afternoon was filled with normal things. Preparing meals for the children, washing ironing and general cleaning duties and best of all Nessa and I played the piano together.

It took hours to hash out plans with the family. Protective plans for the girls and individual plans should anything happen again that might instigate either of the girls, or Seth, being put in danger by a force as yet unknown.

Everyone agreed with certain parts of my family's plan, some parts they didn't, but they accepted that we were making plans and decisions for our family and that they were free to do the same for theirs.

Emmett – on behalf of _his _family – agreed to let Riley come around Angel but only when supervised. Rose looked uneasy and her thoughts were not as set as Emmett's but she didn't want her daughter to be unhappy and she knew the agony that was a mate separated from a mate. She'd learnt from my mistakes and from Bella's and was determined not to tear her family apart by repeating them.

I was proud of her and wondered if her thoughts were close to what Bella herself had been thinking way back when. A pang of regret hit my gut when I thought about all the thoughts I'd missed out on from my mate.

When it was time for the girls to be taken home and put to bed Seth headed for the Rez. He and Sam had a lot to discuss. The changes to his routine, what the inclusion of Riley would mean both for vampires and wolves and most of all he was going to confess to his Alpha what his part in our altercation had been. Sam already knew, of course, and Seth knew that, but still felt the need to tell his Alpha for himself. I was proud of him too.

I helped my wife tuck our daughter into her bed and then followed her into our bedroom. When we were snuggled down under the covers I began to relax, finally.

I kissed her hair and dragged in a lungful of her delicious scent. "This feels so nice," I whispered. "All the tension and drama gone."

"I hope it lasts," she whispered back and rose up onto her elbows to smile down at me. She kissed me softly on my lips then settled back onto my chest.

I was slowly increasing the pressure of the path my fingers were tracing along her bare back, hoping to let her know through touch alone that I wanted her, when my cell phone chimed from the bedside table. I groaned, loudly, as did Bella.

"Here we go again," I muttered darkly and reached for it. I looked at the caller ID and scowled before answering. "What do you want Eleazar?"

Bella stiffened and removed herself from my body. I pulled her back and put her right back where she was, unwilling to forgo what was going to be a very nice few hours with my wife alone.

"_Are you well?"_ he asked cautiously.

I assumed he was asking about how things had gone as I tried to put my family right and answered accordingly. "We are all well Eleazar. Thank you for your concern but if there's nothing else we've settled in for the evening," I told him pointedly.

His slight sigh told me he knew what I was getting at. We were in bed already.

"_There is something else,"_ he sighed heavily.

"Can it wait for morning? I'll be at the school, come to me there."

"_It cannot wait," _he said firmly and my gut clenched.

"Fifteen minutes, my office."

There was no way I was inviting him into our home and he knew it so he merely agreed to my terms and disconnected the call.

"What is it?" Bella asked even though I knew she'd heard every word.

"I have no idea," I told her and kissed her hair again. "But I have to go."

Her sigh tore through me. "I know," she said sadly. "Duty calls."

I pulled her to me then, kissing her with force. She groaned into my mouth and I feasted on her venom as it coated my tongue. With her hands in my hair and mine in hers I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in her body but she was right. Duty does call.

I kissed her once more then dragged myself out from under her. "I hope I won't be long, wait for me?" I grinned as I pulled on my boxers and then my jeans.

She stretched, long and languidly, showing me the expanse of her taught belly and one exposed breast. I closed my eyes and silently cursed Eleazar. "I'll wait," she grinned impishly.

I shook my head to free myself from the pull of her sirens call then fled out the glass doors. I ran, as quickly as I could, through the forest to my office. Eleazar was waiting for me at the doors to the administration building. I growled at him as I unlocked the doors and led him upstairs to my office.

His thoughts gave nothing away but his demeanour did. He was worried, frightened, scared. Something big was 'up'.

I waited until he'd sat in the chair opposite before I asked what was going on. "Do I need to call the council for this?" I asked first off.

"Probably," he mumbled and put his head into his hands. I caught glimpses of the problem in his mind as he pondered how to tell me what was going on. Ana, Raul, Daria, another male I hadn't seen before and another female – a newborn by the look of her blood red eyes. He straightened and looked me in the eye. "I don't want you to hear this third hand," he muttered darkly.

"Spit it out man. You dragged me out of my bed for this, make it worth it at least," I hissed.

"As you wish," he hissed back and took out his cell phone. He dialled and as we waited for whoever it was he'd called to answer I took the liberty of snooping around his head. Flashes of snow, rivers of blood, and Vladimir's head in his hands. The man was utterly terrified. I got no chance to ask why because the call connected.

He hit speaker phone the instant the connection was made. "Naj, its Eleazar," he said simply.

"Ahh, Eleazar, I knew I'd be hearing from you again soon," a delicate voice said through the speaker. The accent was thick and the voice was softly female. "Have you told him?" she asked.

"I'm getting to that," he said quietly. "You are on speaker, my dear. Please relate your tale for our leader," he commanded her.

I balked at the term 'leader' but said nothing. I waited. A good half a minute I waited before the girl, woman, whoever she was, began to tell me exactly why Eleazar was so shaken.

At the end of her story I was too, even more so.

**BPOV**

Edward didn't come home during the night so our 'later' had been put on hold permanently. I checked my cell phone but there was no message either. Whatever Eleazar needed him for was obviously important. Important enough for him to still be in his office with him when Nessa, Seth and I arrived for classes the next morning.

Emmett, Alice and Jasper were already there having gone on ahead to scout out the place before us. I thought it was unnecessary but the others had insisted. The new security measures were obviously going to be taken very seriously by the family.

I kissed Nessa once before she ran through the trees and joined her friends on the playground equipment. I walked with Seth beside me through the school and as we parted he kissed me softly on the cheek before heading in the direction of his locker. He hadn't ever done that before and certainly not on school grounds.

There was no harm in it, of course. There weren't too many humans about at this hour and we were extra early as it was, so the risk was minimal at best. But quite apart from that none of us had any problem claiming Seth as one of our own. Whether the humans chose to believe we were related in some way or merely family friends we didn't care. We loved him and we didn't mind who knew.

Edward didn't join the assembly that morning. I could still smell Eleazar and also Randall, Liam and Dieter so I figured they were still sorting through whatever Eleazar had needed help with during the night. It was obviously council business of some sort.

At first break I called his office but was told that Edward had left word that he not be disturbed. I thought that was odd considering that he'd told Linda very pointedly that there was never anything too private for me not to disturb him. I let it go though. If something was wrong someone would let me know. I knew that to be true. Edward wouldn't risk us being apart because he'd kept something from me again. I knew that. And that's why I wasn't worrying, too much.

I was on playground duty today so when I walked close to the administration building and smelled the others I did become a little more concerned. Carlisle's scent was fresh, as was Sam's. Peter and Esme were also in attendance.

That was the entire council and it shouldn't have bothered me at all. They closeted themselves away often. Admittedly not for this long usually, but they met and talked and plotted for hours at a time when they had the chance. Given that I shouldn't have thought anymore of it but it was the inclusion of Sam that tipped the scales for me.

Whatever was going on was to include the wolves and that didn't smell of council, that smelled of war.

Edward's cell phone went to voicemail as did every single vampire and wolf in that office. The panic rose slowly inside me and by the time the last bell of the day sounded I was wound so tight I was ready to burst.

When Nessa joined me in my office to go home I asked her to wait and went to find Seth. He was in the lab and just beginning his chores.

"What's up Bell's?" he asked as soon as I came into the room.

"No idea," I muttered. "Will you take Nessa home please?" I threw him the keys to the cottage.

He stared at them in his hand for a second. His eyes flashed me the same fear that I knew he saw in mine. "Alright," he said carefully as he took off his lab coat. "What's going on? We only agreed yesterday that we can't be alone, who's coming with us?"

I shook my head. "I know we agreed to that but this is important, I think," I mumbled. I hopped from foot to foot and begged him with my eyes to just do as I asked, just this once, without panicking and increasing my own worry.

Whether he sensed it or knew it I wasn't sure but for once he didn't fight me. He threw his coat onto a table and moved past me. "I'll protect her," he whispered as he went out the door. I knew he would.

Alice met me at the foot of the stairs to the administration building. She was trembling slightly and clinging to Jasper's hand as though he were the last life raft on the boat.

"What have you seen?" I asked as I approached.

She shook her head sadly and threw her eyes up the stairs. I didn't wait for them and I couldn't care less what she'd seen. I needed to hear this from my husband, whatever it was.

Flick and Linda were already gone from the building. That in itself was strange but I took no time trying to figure out why that was and just ran up the stairs.

His office was empty but I could hear them and smell them so I went right to the conference room. I didn't knock I just went in.

They were all there, just as I knew they would be.

Now Peter had Charlotte on his knee and Emmett and Rosie were already sitting side by side at the other end of the table. The table was strewn with papers and Esme was writing furiously on a legal pad. Carlisle had his head in his hands on the surface of that table. Edward was standing by the windows, his back to me, staring out over his beloved school.

"Tell me," I growled as I moved further into the room to let Alice and Jasper inside.

Edward turned, his face drawn and frightened. He threw the table one look and then he strode towards me. He put both his massive hands on my shoulders and I could feel the slight tremble as he squeezed me hard. He licked his bottom lip swiftly and then spoke the words I already dreaded were coming.

"An army is coming."

I didn't need the benefit of mind reading to know that it was true. The faces of everyone I loved confirmed it.

"I can't see them yet," Alice announced formally as she took a seat at the table.

"You won't, you don't know them," Eleazar said solemnly.

"Do you?" I asked, perhaps a little too harshly.

He lowered his eyes and I steeled myself for Edward's wrath. If this had anything to do with anyone Eleazar knew or had had contact with Edward would kill him. I knew it as surely as I knew he loved me.

"I do," Eleazar whispered.

I waited but Edward said nothing, did nothing. He took his hands down off my shoulders after a long moment but kept my hand in his. The rhythmic squeezing and releasing telling me that he was okay, that he was there.

"Who then and what do we do?" I asked the room.

I expected Eleazar to tell me or maybe Peter because he had the most experience with armies but it was Carlisle who spoke. Not my husband. Not our council chairman. Not our leader. They all held their breath waiting for his words but it wasn't Edward who spoke.

Carlisle spoke softly but eloquently, his voice clear and true. "Eleazar has been contacted by an acquaintance of his from Northern Russia. Naj is her name. Ana has left the castle in Romania and has sought refuge with the vampire Kirkov in Siberia. Word reached Naj's coven that an army is being built, that Kirkov plans to move on us here."

It was clear, concise and totally confounding. "Why?" I asked, thinking it a simple question.

"Because of me," I heard the rasped whisper and turned to see who it was this time that we were being hunted for.

He'd stood at the end of the table. His fists were clenched at his side. The cords in his neck stood out in rage. His face radiated deadly intent.

He stood at the head of the table and declared that this war was all on him. It was Edward.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**A little shorter than I am used to, but necessarily so. **

**From here on in this is going to get complicated. I know, I know, that's not like me :)**

**I will give the same warning and the same apology as I did with the last book. If the next chapters begin to feel like a who's who or a technical manual for vampires I am sorry. There are more, many many more coming to fight this time and they all deserve for their stories to be heard. Some good some bad. Points of view will not differ too much yet, though hearing from individuals during the fight last time seemed to work well and was enjoyed by almost all the readers. I am planning to do the same this time but we aren't quite there yet. **

**For my friend Najs, welcome to Twilight my dear...:)**

**Please be kind enough to review. **


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: I sincerely apologise to those of you who have been waiting so damn long for this story to get back into motion. Real life has thrown me quite my share of curve balls but I hope that we are once again back on track. To those of you who've been messaging me and wishing me well, and begging for me to continue this tale, thank you. You kept me eager - despite not having the mental capacity at the time - to finish this story. **

**I'm writing steadily and hope to have the war unfolded, and told, as quickly as I can now. **

**To Najs, Thank you. I hope you see this update and dont just roll your eyes at me. I hope you enjoy your 'roll' in this story from here on in. **

**To R and D, as always, I hope you enjoy it and know that without the two of you I'd never have found the time or the strength to begin writing these vamps again. Love to you both. **

**Now, lets get on with it!**

* * *

Chapter 26 – Learning Curve

**BPOV**

"No!" I heard myself shout before I could control it.

A fierce, uncontrollable protective jolt flashed through my body as Edward turned his tortured eyes to mine.

"Yes," he rasped, shaking his head sadly.

I was with him then. I pulled him to me and held him tight. I didn't know what to say or how to say it but I knew that we'd fight and we'd fight hard. He trembled and shook in my arms as all the fear, emotion and self doubt – and probably a good smattering of guilt – forced its way out of his body.

I heard the feint scraping of chair legs against the wooden floor of the conference room and then the swirling scents and sounds were gone. We were alone.

"We'll fight," I whispered as I ran my fingers up his back. "We've done it before we can do it again."

He was nodding, I could feel it, but it wasn't yet the steely determination of a leader. It was the gentle acceptance of a man who just wanted a peaceful life and was once again going to be forced to fight for it. It was agonising to feel.

"We can do this," I told him without really knowing what it was, how many, we were to face this time. "I'll fight for you. I'll protect you," I told him with real confidence.

He raised his face from where he'd buried it in my shoulder just moments ago and stared into my eyes. "You'll protect me," he whispered as though he was unconvinced.

"I'll protect you," I agreed.

**EPOV**

Hearing my wife, my mate, preparing herself mentally to protect me killed me. It killed me inside. Knowing she was once again going to have to put herself in harm's way killed me. Knowing that this time it wasn't to protect herself, or our children, but me...it all made it infinitely worse.

"We have to get home," I told her carefully.

"When do we start? How do we start?" she asked just as carefully.

I knew what she was asking. I knew what I had to do. We had to start a war map and we had to do it fast. From the thoughts of the fleeing vampires that had moments ago been party to the discussion I knew that calls, texts, emails and telegrams were already flying around the world. There would be no time to waste on this, not this time. There was no time to wrestle with self doubt, no time to argue with those that would not join us in battle, no time for self loathing or what ifs. I wasn't going to be given the time I'd need to convince others to stay away, the wheels were already in motion. If we were to survive this time we had to do whatever we could, gather as much information as we could, and bring to us as much manpower as was possible. Those decisions had been taken from me as those in the conference room began to form their 'plans' in their minds.

This time there would be no innocents. Anyone who wished to observe was not going to be welcome. Anyone who stood on the wrong side of the clearing after this fight was done would be slaughtered. In cold blood. Anyone who backed the wrong horse would pay with their lives. It had to be that way. It had to be.

I released her from my grip and walked towards the windows and looked down at my school. My beloved school. I'd had it just a short time and I already loved it. I loved what it represented, I loved that it had been borne from my own relentlessness. I loved that my family loved it too. '

And just like the first time I'd had to fight for something I'd only had it for a short time. Isabella, my beloved. I'd only had her a few months when I'd been forced to fight for her. Renesmee, she'd been but months old when I'd had to kill on her behalf in order to have time to love her.

"We begin now," I told her firmly. "Today, this minute." I turned back to her and strode to her side. I took her hand in mine and brought her wedding rings to my lips. "Kirkov is an animal, a monster, he'll show no remorse. He has no compassion and will show no comprehension of knowing right from wrong. There will be no trial this time, however staged. There will be no mercy. This will be a slaughter Isabella. Make no mistake."

She didn't flinch. Not once. No outward sign that she was bothered, scared or worried. I loved her more for it than I could express.

"Then we should get home. We should begin," she raised her eyebrows to me in question and I nodded in reply. She made for the door, my hand still in hers, tugging me along behind her.

I pulled my hand from within hers and stopped. "Is there much point asking you to take Nessa and Seth and flee?" I asked in a last ditch effort to protect her and my family.

She turned from the doorway and threw me a glacial smile. "None whatsoever. Don't ask again."

And then she was gone, running towards home.

I wouldn't ask again.

Four miles from home the cacophony of activity hit my senses. The swirling scents and the thoughts of so many as they began their plotting. Amongst it all were the scents of the two little girls. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to be appalled. I wanted to be shocked and to storm into the big house and demand that they be taken elsewhere while this slaughter was planned, but I could not. I did not.

"There can be no hiding this from the children this time," I whispered to my wife as we continued to run for home. "They'll know something isn't right. Nessa will read it from one of us and she won't hesitate to share it with Angel. I can't protect them from this this time."

Again she didn't flinch. "I know," she said confidently. "I can't speak for Angel but for Nessa she needs to know what's coming. She needs to be able to protect herself this time."

Still we ran. Closer and closer to the big house and the panic and frenzy that it housed now. I thought about what she'd said. I thought about seeing Nessa defend herself as I'd watched Bella do it last time and shuddered. I didn't want that for either of them but knew that this time, in this circumstance, we could leave nothing to chance. "We leave nothing undone this time Bella. You teach her to fight and I'll teach her to use her gifts. Zafrina will come, I have no doubt, and they must begin immediately."

Bella screeched to a stop at the tree line at the back of the house and pulled me to a stop beside her. She got onto her toes and kissed me firmly on the cheek. "I'll make sure she knows how to defend herself, I promise. I know you can't do it and I know why." She kissed me again and gave my hand a hard squeeze. "Come and lead us," she whispered as she nodded towards the house.

I drew in a long breath and blew it out over my teeth. I watched her run in through the glass doors on the decking and be enveloped into the folds of the family as preparations began. I waited until I heard her bark her first order – to contact Zafrina as quickly as possible – and then I too strode up the yard and in through the same glass doors.

I was to be given no chance to gather my thoughts, or attempt to make sense of the fact that I was the cause of this. Not a single thought in the house was willing to allow me the chance to be sorry. They were resigned and they were ready. There was not a single dissenter. Every thought was the same. They'd stay. They'd fight. For me.

Everybody in the house stopped what they were doing and turned to face me as I came into the living room. Every sound ceased, save those made inside the heads of those present. They were waiting for me to tell them what to do. They needed me to guide them. My council were waiting and so were my family and friends. I looked first to Carlisle, deploring him with my eyes to tell me he had this, that he'd do this in my stead, but he did not. Instead he told me to take charge, his thoughts were nothing more and nothing less. He too was waiting for his leader to guide him. It took me a few seconds to understand that he meant me, that it was me who he expected to lead him through this.

I nodded minutely in his direction and turned my attention to my councillors. "I need a list of who has already been contacted and a list of those yet to be found," I told Randall who immediately got to his feet and made his way to Carlisle's study to use the computer there. "Eleazar, get me every ounce of information you have on Kirkov and his coven. Everything. Nothing is too insignificant. Use whatever and whoever is willing to help. Get them here, or go there, I don't care." He got to his feet and followed Randall up the stairs. His thoughts were already teeming with information and he was desperate to get it out of his head and onto paper so it wouldn't be lost. "Liam I need you to retrieve the documents we set aside from the last fight. I need the map and the list of gifts from both sides. You have the authority and the key?" I asked him. At his nod I continued on. "Good, bring them here the instant you have them. Peter, find Zafrina and Alistair. Zafrina is needed here, if she'll come without him. Find out what Alistair knows about Kirkov, if he knows of him I need him to find him. I want his movements traced as of right now. If he moves further than a mile from his home I need to know." Peter was gone then too, outside with his cell phone in his hand. He'd find them and get them on the job, I had no doubt. "Carlisle I need you to find David Piper. He has a wealth of information at his disposal. Covens and vampires we've never heard of. I don't care if he wants in on this fight but I need him to contact as many as he can, let them know, we'll need more this time than before." I didn't wait for Carlisle's answer and turned to Dieter. "Dieter, you need to inform your mate, now."

It was a simple statement but it made everyone else in the room still instantly. Many thoughts turned to how in hell Dieter had managed to find a mate that nobody knew about. Alice knew, of course, as did Bella and I, but the others were mostly unaware.

Dieter stood and moved toward me. His thoughts were in disarray but he had no doubt that I was right, Felicity had a right to know about this and he had an obligation to tell her. "If you are sure?" he asked me cautiously.

"We created an orphan last time Dieter; I don't want to leave a widow, not when there could be another way. Tell her, and be brutally honest. She's smart and she's not unwilling to know. She loves you as you love her. There is time, if she so wishes, to join you, but not so much time that you can leave it much longer."

He understood instantly. If Felicity wished to be turned it had to be now. "You and your wife, you'll be there for her if she..." he couldn't finish the sentence. He did in his head. I took it like a sucker punch to the gut. 'If she cannot accept me and this life' is what he was going to say.

"She is family Dieter. We're here. We'll do whatever you, and she, needs," I told him honestly.

He looked over his shoulder to Bella, who was smiling in agreement. "I'll go now," he said softly and then fled through the glass doors.

I didn't wait for any fallout; I had work to do and little time to do it. "Alice, how long, can you see?" I asked as I strode across the room to the archway into the dining room.

"Not yet, I can't see anything yet, but I will. As soon as I speak with Naj myself I'll see it, I hope," she told me.

I hoped it worked that way too but there was no way to know for now. We'd work with what we had and hope that it was enough. I had to put faith in Alistair that he'd be able to find Kirkov and that we'd know of his movements soon enough. If Alice spoke with Naj and wasn't able to get a read on what was going on that way we'd work something else out. For now I had enough to do, a timeframe would come, for now I had to build a new war map.

"Seth, call your pack," I called as I went into the dining room and began putting Esme's beloved flower filled vases onto the sideboard. "One hour and I want reports from you all," I bellowed through the house and accepted back the agreement of all those I'd given jobs to.

The others, those who'd not been given specific tasks as yet were already on cell phones and lap tops contacting others. The children were sitting at the feet of their mothers, both of them stunned into silence and watching with interest the activity around them. Nessa's thoughts weren't frightened, neither were Angel's. They were both shocked and a little confused, but neither was scared. That would come, I was sure. For now they too were punching numbers into cell phones and calling our family and friends to our aide.

I waited until both girls had finished their respective calls then went to them. They both turned huge, wide eyes up to me as I knelt in front of them. "Do you understand what's happening here?" I asked them both.

"Yes daddy. Another bad man is coming to hurt us," Nessa said softly.

"That's right little one, a very bad man. But I don't want either of you two girls to worry, alright? So many of our family and friends are going to be here to make sure nobody hurts either of you, alright?"

It was Angel who answered for them both. "We'll be good girls Uncle Edward. We promise. We'll help too. I will protect Nessie and she'll protect me. We pinky promised already so you don't need to worry."

It was both charming and heartbreaking to know that these tiny people, these two beautiful, trusting delightful creatures were ready, willing and would soon be able to make good on their little promises to each other.

I smiled as best I could and tried to ignore the panic and concern of their mothers as I hugged them both to me in turn. "Never break that pinky promise, girls," I told them as I kissed their cheeks. "Who is on your list to call?" I asked Angel first.

"I get to call Holly Uncle Ed, she's fun," she said happily.

"And I get to call Nathaniel, daddy," Nessa chimed in as she punched in the number into her cell phone.

"Say hello from me girls," I said quietly as I stood.

I threw Bella a smile and another to Rosie and then went back into the dining room. There was work to be done and for now both girls were okay with what they'd just learned.

I swiped the whiteboard marker across the giant glass windows that looked out over the lawn and wrote the words I hoped I'd never have to ever again. 'War Map' in big, bold red letters adorned the two feet of glass.

I drew a dozen circles in a line on the bottom half of the windows and began to fill in the names of my family. We wouldn't fight in formation this time. This time we'd fight as a family. This time we'd wipe out these bastards together. This time the whole fucking world would know that if you fucked with a Cullen you'd die. Horribly.

**BPOV**

Things came together fast after that initial 'meeting' in the living room.

Without blinking an eyelash Edward assumed his role of leader, commander to his army and protector to us all. Nothing had been said about why this was happening again and I knew that at some point it would all come out, but for now everyone was busy contacting as many of our friends as we could find.

It proved a hellish task. Those that had permanent residences were easiest and those that still preferred to be nomadic proved near impossible. With no time frame to work with yet we were stumbling blindly. Telegrams were obviously the longest means to contact but with some of our more elusive friends there was no other option. Then there were the covens that lived in such remote places that technology simply didn't allow for any form of communication other than by post. Tonga and the Amazon Basin were cases in point. There was no way to contact Zuhar and Kachiri without sending a very hastily written telegram. It would be only luck that would find Abel and Senna in the depths of the jungle just as it had been luck that our last correspondence alerted Zaffy of our impending troubles. All we could do was hope.

Edward's one hour was rapidly depleting and as he called for his reports those who had been set tasks began to make their way into the dining room. I hadn't been given a set task and neither had Rosie so we took it upon ourselves to see to the girls. They were tired, a little worried and hungry.

"Rose and I are taking the girls home," I whispered, knowing Edward would hear.

"I'll be along when I can," he whispered in return. "I love you both," he added at the end quietly.

I whispered my love for him and took Nessa's hand. She ran eagerly beside me towards the cottage. She'd not asked anything, as yet, but I knew it was coming. I'd wait for Edward before we broached the subject and I knew he'd want Seth in on it too. For now we'd wait.

**EPOV**

Randall was first to deliver his report. The spreadsheet was long and involved. He'd worked hard on it to make it as accurate as possible and even as he presented his work to me shouted inclusions were coming from those still frantically making calls and sending emails.

Carlisle came to me next. "David was reluctant at first but I've made it clear to him how important this is and he's agreed to begin making a list. He refuses to contact anyone or give any information about this to anyone on this list until he's spoken with you personally. I had to agree, there was no other way."

I nodded thoughtfully. "As he wishes. Get him on the phone, I'll speak with him as soon as he's able," I told my father. "And you, what are your plans?"

I asked because I didn't want to go through what we'd gone through last time. I'd had Carlisle's assurance after the last fight that he'd not balk again and even though I'd heard his resolution in his mind hours ago I needed him to speak it aloud.

He thought carefully before he spoke but when he did his voice was clear and a little louder than necessary. I understood from his thoughts that he needed those around us to know his intentions too.

"I'm beside you son, not behind you, I won't hide and I won't balk, not this time."

I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Thank you," I told him sincerely.

He nodded his thanks and turned to leave. "How soon do you want to call the first meeting? The others are going to want to know why this is happening again."

"As soon as there are enough here, perhaps tomorrow or the day after. Word will spread from there so I hope I only have to say it once."

He nodded again and turned back into the living room. He was already dialling David's number.

Liam was next. He had with him the gift registry and the map we'd drawn crudely on rough paper the last time we'd needed to assemble this way. Together we spread it out and taped it onto the tabletop. I shuddered as its lines and cross outs became clear as the rumpled paper took its shape once more.

I'd used this piece of innocuous paper to plot the demise of twenty vampires. I'd used this simple plan to protect my family. I'd used this sheet to end the insidious reign of what had once been a very powerful royal family.

It represented all that I loathed about myself. The monster capable of carrying out the plans and the man who didn't regret a single moment of it.

My eyes were drawn to the three small squares drawn freehand at the uppermost edge. Daria, Raul, Ana.

"Eleazar!" I called through the house. His answering reply was instant. "What of the children? Where do they stand in all this?" I asked.

At first he thought I meant our children but then his thoughts turned to the ones I'd meant. Daria and Raul. Flashes of them went through his thoughts as he tried to form an answer.

Daria exchanging vows with a very tall man. Raul striding through the courtyard of his castle with a red eyed beauty on his arm. Other newborns moving through the castle barking orders. Ana, pale drawn and gaunt in what were obviously her private rooms. Her back to the door. Her head down over her clasped hands. Her obvious grief.

"They are at your disposal," Eleazar answered finally.

I read from him for a moment longer to determine what that really meant. He'd known Ana had fled, perhaps days in advance of Naj's warning but he'd held off because of the trouble between myself, Bella and Seth these past few days. _That's _why he'd been trying to contact me so often over the past few days. He had been trying to apprise me of this and I'd ignored his pleas.

I may not have wholly forgiven his involvement in the last altercation but I couldn't fault him in this one. He'd done his level best to avoid this and he'd done his best to tell me as soon as he could that this threat existed. I'd ignored him and pushed him away time and time again. He'd get this one for free.

"If they will come we'll host them Eleazar," I told him through the floors of the house.

His gratitude was palpable and my expression of hospitality rather than hostility made most of the others in the house sigh in either shock or pleasure.

"Peter, open the safe houses and begin renting hotels and private homes in the area. We're going to need a lot," I called my order and silently added 'I hope' in my head. "What of Zafrina and Alistair?" I asked as an afterthought.

"They weren't home but I've left messages. As soon as I hear you'll know," he called from the study.

"Jaz can you come in here and start plotting points for a new map?" I asked my brother who was perched on the arm of the sofa helping Alice with the calls.

He came right in and sat beside Liam as they pondered the map.

When Carlisle finished his call with David my cell phone chirped almost instantly. Carlisle's thoughts told me to expect the council lawyers call as I answered it.

There was no greeting just a demand for information. Those in the house who had no idea why I was a target learned it along with David Piper.

"The last time we fought I let the surviving family members leave. A son a hybrid daughter and Vladimir's wife, Ana. They returned to Romania and we left them in the peace I promised we would. From what I know from Eleazar Ana grew resentful. She blames me for taking her happy life away, for destroying her family," I told David who was huffing and puffing on the other end of the call.

"And the children? What do they believe? Have they raised an army to come get you?" he asked, somewhat childishly.

"Not at all," I was quick to point out knowing that even one floor above me Eleazar could hear the other end of the call. "Raul and Daria, the children in question, have gone on with their lives David. We have nothing to fear from them. Ana, however, has left their stronghold and travelled to the north and has fallen in with Kirkov."

The bellow of rage on the other end of the call was both staggeringly loud and unexpected. "Motherfucker," David hissed. "And of course he's fed her anger and her sense of having been wronged by you. Jesus. This is going to get ugly fast," he hissed.

"I believe it already has. That's where you come in. I know you know others, many others, that we don't know. I want you to contact them and tell them what I've told you. We'll need help this time, much more help than just those of us who stood last time. Kirkov is a fighter and he has an extensive army," I told the conniving manipulator on the other end of the phone.

He thought on it for a moment before answering. "And why would these friends of mine, and I'm not saying I have any that you don't already know about, why would these friends of mine want to come and help you, Cullen?"

The way he said the name Cullen bit at me and lodged in my gut. A fury built inside me when I thought about it so I tried not to. That wasn't the issue at hand and it certainly wouldn't help my cause if I bit off the hand that could help me.

I blew out my breath over my teeth and hissed right back. "They'll want to know because Kirkov has no intention of just finishing Cullen's," I spat. "The intelligence we have suggests that Kirkov would quite like to begin a new royal family, with himself as the head of course. He wants to quash all resistance now, while he's here. Especially amongst those who were gathered the last time. Anyone who has even the most tenuous link to us is now a target. This will escalate Piper," I said using his surname every bit as spitefully as he'd used mine. "This will not stop until we stop him. He might be coming for me right now but you can bet your balls that he'll be coming for you, and your alleged friends, very soon after. If you won't help me I cannot force you, but you should warn your friends if you can. They deserve to know what's coming."

The end of the line was silent for a long moment. I could hear him pacing, wherever he was, and could imagine him turning things over in his mind before deciding. There'd be some sort of angle he was working, something that meant something to him somewhere that would decide for him. David Piper did nothing without there being a pay off at the end.

"Alright. I'll make some calls. Book me a room or two at the Olympic Lodge in Port Angeles, I'm sure your council will spring for it, and I'll bring some of my friends to meet with you in a few days."

He sounded as though he was doing me a favour and I hated that but right now I needed him and I needed who he knew. I didn't have specifics but something he'd said at that first meeting led me to believe that he knew plenty of our kind out there across America. The more bodies we could put between us and Kirkov's army the better we'd fare. If that meant springing for a room or two for David fucking Piper I'd pay for it myself.

"Done, call when you arrive," I told him and didn't bother waiting for a response before disconnecting the call. I pushed my cell phone into my jeans pocket and called for Eleazar to join me.

His time was up. I needed the information he had begun to write down and I needed it now. He could work on it further later but for now I needed a place to start.

"I need to talk to you," Felicity whispered lowly at her desk down one floor.

I'd been expecting this. Perhaps not this way, but this scenario had been coming for a while. Firstly she knew that if she spoke, no matter how quietly, I'd hear it and secondly, she'd been worrying about speaking with me all day.

Being at the school gave me something to think about other than the looming war and I was grateful to have it.

I'd spent hours with Peter, Jaz and Eleazar mapping out what we knew, which wasn't much yet. We'd planned to have a meeting the following evening when our guests would begin to arrive.

I'd returned to the cottage almost spent mentally but I kept enough in reserve to sit with Bella and Nessa and explain what was coming. They deserved to know and they deserved the truth, straight up.

It was both very satisfying and very frightening to watch them as I told them what and who was coming for us. Neither flinched. Bella was resigned and outwardly fighting in my corner, her thoughts as ever were locked to me but her facial expression remained the same. Fiercely protective and ready to do what needed to be done.

Nessa allowed me to read from her throughout the explanation and afterwards as she'd drifted off to sleep. Before I lost myself in Bella's beautiful body I told her what our daughter had been thinking.

She too had been fierce. Fiercely protective of me, her mother, her mate and the others. She'd been fierce in her inner anger at Kirkov despite knowing little about him and she'd been fiercely sure that we'd prevail, again.

The only thing that struck me as odd in her thoughts was the part that Riley was to play. I'd not given him a moment's thought since Eleazar had called me the night before. Was there a role for him to play? He'd want to protect Angel but should we allow him to do so knowing the danger it would place him in? It was a decision for Em and Rose and not one I'd get in the middle of. I'd broach it but then leave it to them.

Word had gotten out fast and in the twenty four hours since the council had been informed that we were facing another fight we'd gotten replies from more than half of those who'd stood with us last time.

They would begin to arrive over the course of the day but for now I needed to be at the school, doing my job. The rest of the family had gone about their business as usual too. Bella was currently in her office and Emmett was taking a welding class right where he should've been. Alice and Jasper were in classes too and would continue to run them as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred for us at home. The students depended on us to turn up and turn up we did.

Alice had a task still to achieve but I had no doubt she would do it at the first chance. Contacting Naj was a priority. If Alice couldn't see us standing in that clearing – or anywhere else - fighting yet then she needed something, or someone, to focus on to help her find the vision that had so far been elusive.

My thoughts returned to Felicity, how she would fare if the worst case scenario played out and she was left to man the school with Antony.

"I need to talk to you," she whispered again though a little more desperately this time.

Dieter had divulged the nature of my gift. It was apparent in the way she referenced me in her thoughts. She was uneasy about it and I felt badly for her. It wasn't nice when someone came to realise that their thoughts weren't private anymore.

I pushed the button on my receiver that would connect me to the nervous girl downstairs.

"You heard, didn't you?" She asked cautiously.

"I did, why don't you come on up and we'll talk now."

She thought about it for a few seconds then agreed. After we hung up I called Bella's cell and asked her to give me twenty minutes then come to my office, Felicity was going to need to speak with Bella too. She too had been expecting this.

Felicity's knock was timid and she entered the room with her eyes downcast. "Sorry to bother you boss," she mumbled as she came a little closer to my desk.

"Have a seat," I offered and she took the one opposite me. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked even though I already knew.

When her eyes met mine they were red rimmed and swollen from crying. Her bottom lip wobbled as she tried to get straight what she wanted to say.

"I love him," she mumbled.

"I know you do," I told her gently.

Her eyes met mine then. "I guess you do," she said carefully. "He says he loves me too."

"I can tell you that he does, very deeply actually."

She broke down then, sobbing into her sleeve as she put her head onto her folded arms on my desk. Despite the muffling of her clothing I could hear every word perfectly. "I'm afraid. I don't know what to do. He wants to live here, with me, but I don't know what to do about him. I hate it when he's gone and I want him to be here, with me, but then..."

I sighed. "He's told you then, what he is?" I asked carefully despite knowing that he had. It was all she could think about. She muttered a 'yes' but didn't look up at me. "And do you understand, was he careful to explain it to you?"

She looked up then with tears still spilling from her eyes making muddy rivers through her makeup as they fell down her cheeks. "He says he's going to be like you from now on. He says he hasn't eaten anyone...you know...like that...since he met me. He says he can do it and I want to believe him but he's so _old_ and I don't know if he can change after all this time."

That I hadn't expected. Then again I'd expected Bella to be disgusted, terrified and unwilling to learn about what I was at the time too, and I'd been wrong then as well. I expected Felicity to be aghast, horrified at the life Dieter was leading, but instead she understood what he was and what he had done in the past and only wanted to know whether or not I thought it was possible that he could transition to a vegetarian way of life. It was astounding in its simplicity.

Perhaps we'd underestimated humans? Perhaps with the evolution of the human species their brains had evolved to the point where they could understand us? Accept us?

But that brought me back to the interminable question. If they could live happily knowing of our existence then why were they so frightened of us? Why did our inherent nature make it so that they were terrified of us when we were near? If we all chose tolive amongst them without feeding from them would that change?

I couldn't ponder this right now so I turned my attentions back to the sobbing girl in my office.

"I've known Dieter for a few years now and I know him to be trustworthy," I told her honestly. "He's fought beside me and I'd trust him with not only my life but the lives of my wife and children also."

I couldn't be sure how much she knew but this was no time to hide who and what I was and that included the secret life I led away from this school. There was too much at stake now to hide it anymore from her. She had her suspicions just like Bella had had back at the start for us and even though Felicity's had been way off track she had still known there was something about me, about Bella, that wasn't normal.

She had a chance now, a chance to either be with the one she loved or walk away clean. There was nobody who'd deny her the chance to run if she chose to. There wasn't anyone watching over us anymore, deciding who lived and who died simply because they knew our secret. If she didn't want this life, in any form, even as mate to one of our kind, then she'd be allowed to go on her way.

I may not understand how her brain could cope so easily with the knowledge that the man she loved had spent the last two hundred and twenty odd years killing humans to ensure his survival, but I understood that Felicity learning about my life a little more could do no harm. She already knew what I was and it hadn't come from me. She was still here; she hadn't fled yet, quit her job or moved to a remote location in fear. Yet. If she could see what was possible, if Dieter did in fact intend to curb his feeding habits, they may have a chance to have what I have. If we survived what was coming that is.

"You have children?" she asked, astounded. "Are they adopted? Like you and your siblings?" she asked but I shook my head fervently. "But, but, Dieter told me that that would be impossible. He told me that I'd never be able to...he told me that we couldn't...I don't understand."

I smiled then. I too had once believed it to be impossible, but Nessa was with us and healthy and happy and the light of my life. Dieter had done the right thing, explaining to this girl what it was she'd be giving up if she chose a life with him, and I could understand his reluctance to explain the miracle that was a hybrid. Alice had known about Angel well before Rosie and Emmett and yet she'd chosen to pass the torch to them rather than have the chance to be a parent, so I understood that it wasn't for everyone. Perhaps Dieter wasn't interested in going down that path either.

I opened my bottom drawer and pulled the file from it. I put it in front of her and opened it to the first page. "This is my daughter," I said slowly. "She's different. Half what I am and half human. She grows three times faster than normal and she's something of a savant."

I left the information out there, both verbally and in the form of the file and let her peruse it at her leisure. She flipped page after page and I read along with her as she took in the contents of the file.

"Nessa Masen is your daughter?" she asked finally.

"She is," I admitted proudly. "She's about ten now but in reality she's barely three."

She shook her head as though none of it made sense and I guess, to her, it really didn't.

"How did you, how did Bella, um...I don't mean to sound stupid but how did this happen? How is she possible, Dieter said..."

"We thought it was impossible too. Dieter knows it's not and I think he's just trying to initiate you as simply as possible. Make you see what you'd be giving up by being with him long term."

"Okay," she said slowly. "I can see how that might be true. But, can I ask, how is this possible? You don't change, you don't grow, and you don't age, that's what he told me."

"Bella was human when we, ahh. Anyway. Bella was human when I made her pregnant but was changed soon after, actually she was changed the very next day, not that we knew then that she was pregnant. The pregnancy was very fast; only ninety days give or take. I'll leave it to Bella to tell you how Nessa made her way into the world," I cringed at the memory. "But she's here and she's whole and that's all that matters."

She read a little more and looked once or twice to Nessa's admission photograph on the front page before closing it and sliding it back to me. "Are there others like her? Do human women do this all the time with vampires? Are there others at this school?"

It was a fair question. I couldn't divulge what Riley was, he was a grown man and it was his decision to whom his nature was divulged and the same was true for Seth. I could not, in good conscience, divulge what he was either. Not without outing the pack and having to explain the dynamic that existed between our two supernatural cultures.

So I went with what I could tell her. "It doesn't happen very often, no. There are others though. We know of four more though three of them are already adults and two of those now live in Italy. They were married recently," I added as another way to show her that a semi normal life could be had. As to the kind of life Daria was leading I couldn't be sure. She'd taken a mate, but apart from that I knew very little. "But I have a niece, Angel, she's a little younger than Nessa – her name is actually Renesmee by the way – and she'll be attending here soon too."

Her eyes widened at that. She was very quickly connecting dots. "Alice and Jasper or Emmett and Rose?" she asked very astutely. Dieter had explained quite a bit I was learning.

"Em and Rosie."

"Hmmm," she sighed. "Can I ask you a question?" she asked and I nodded. "Does it really hurt the way Dieter said it does?"

I read from her thoughts what her question actually meant and I couldn't help the sigh I let out. "Yes. He was being truthful. It's a pain like no other. Three days you'll burn, should you choose this for yourself, and there is nothing I could tell you to describe the agony."

She began to cry softly again then. Her thoughts were only for Dieter. What it would mean for him to have to live forever after she'd died a natural death. What it meant for him to love a fragile human. How he would cope having to change his way of life just for her. Could he be happy in America, with her?

I smelled Bella's approach and smiled to myself. Felicity needed to speak with another woman about this, about how your life changes when you meet and fall in love with a vampire. There was no better confidante than Bella.

"Come in darling," I called to my wife who now stood out in the other office waiting.

Felicity raised her eyes to Bella and immediately started sobbing again, this time much more loudly. Now her thoughts turned to her own life and what it was going to become.

Bella kissed me lightly on the cheek and then went to Felicity. I made a hasty retreat. They didn't need me for this.

**BPOV**

Like Edward I'd known this was coming but seeing it unfold now, and Flick being so upset, I wished it had taken longer to come about. I wasn't ready for this and neither was she.

I understood the haste with which Dieter had done it, and I might even understand his need to do it, but I didn't like seeing my friend in pain like this.

"Shhh," I crooned as she cried in my arms. "It'll all be alright, you'll see," I told her.

"He says I have to decide," she sobbed. "He said it can't wait. He said something is coming, someone's coming to hurt you all and I have to decide now."

I sighed long and heavily. Damn it. This was all wrong. This fucking sword hanging over her head I knew well. Jacob had decided for me too and now Kirkov was deciding for Flick and I hated it.

I let her cry while I thought about what I was going to say next. Should I explain what it was like? How painful the change was? How hard it was going to be to curb her appetite? Should I explain what she'd have to give up versus what she'd gain?

As she sobbed I thought about the choices I'd made. I'd chosen Edward long before Jacob forced the issue. I'd chosen this way of life before Jacob had made it necessary. It had been hard, at first, but now it was blissful. Well, once we'd killed these fuckers coming to hurt us it would be blissful again.

I knew what I had to tell her now.

"Can I tell you my story?" I asked her softly. I reached for a tissue from Edward's desk and handed it to her. I waited while she dried her eyes and then I began.

I told her how Edward had suffered while he waited for me to grow. I told her what imprinting was and how it worked. I told her about the love I had for Edward long before I found out what he was, just like she loved Dieter before he'd revealed his secret. I tried to show her how wonderful it was to have such a loving, caring and protective mate. Much more so than was usual with a human male. I told her about the life we led, how rich and full it was and how very important family and friends were to us. I told her the difference between our coven and the others that fed differently. I told her that even though we were the same – all vampires were essentially the same – there were some of us that had retained some of our humanity at the change. I wanted her to see that difference.

I told her about Jake and how he'd tried to take me from Edward. I told her about my own change and how I'd writhed and screamed through it all with a purpose. How the agony just made me want to survive it because I knew that Edward was waiting for me when it ended.

I told her about Nessa, how she came to be and the horror that was her birth. I told her about the last fight and why we'd fought so hard for Seth and for Nessa. I didn't tell her that Seth was a wolf, I simply told her that Seth was Nessa's mate and that they had been bonded that way since the day Nessa had been born.

I told her about our little home in the woods and how we lived there. I told her all the normal things we did. We read, we played, we made love, we amused each other and we fought, just like humans did.

When she asked about how we hunted I told her that too. There was nothing to hide. I wasn't ashamed of it even if Edward still was. I ate animals just like humans did. I just went direct to the source. She flinched when I told her about Nessa hunting with us. She flinched again when I told her I'd never tasted human blood but that Edward had.

I told her that we'd live forever, together, and that we'd love forever too.

She asked a hundred questions, maybe more, as we sat there all through that afternoon. When the last of the students had gone home Nessa came to the office with Edward and Seth.

"Hey baby," Edward said softly as he came to me and kissed my temple. "Nessa, come and meet a friend of ours. Nessa, this is Felicity, Felicity this is our daughter, Renesmee."

"It's nice to meet you Miss Felicity," Nessa said daintily from behind her father's legs.

Felicity giggled a little, "It's nice to meet you too Miss Renesmee."

"And I'm Seth," Seth came away from beside Edward and held out his hand for her.

She shook it carefully and smiled. "Hi," she said softly.

Before anyone else could speak Nessa climbed up into Flick's lap and put her hand to her cheek. "Don't cry," Nessa crooned as she closed her eyes and showed the startled girl a memory of some sort.

Flick's eyes widened as she looked over Nessa's shoulder at me. All I could do was smile. Whatever Nessa was showing her was obviously nice because they both smiled at the same time.

"Wow, aren't you clever?" Flick said sweetly. "How did you do that?"

Nessa looked to Edward and tapped her temple. He returned the gesture and then my daughter turned back to face her newest fan. "I'm different," she shrugged. "My daddy can read peoples minds and my mommy is a shield. I got a bit of both when I was borned," she shrugged again as though it was no big deal.

"A shield?" Flick asked me, confused.

"Long story," I laughed.

"And one for another time I think," Edward interjected. "We have guests arriving Isabella," he said quite firmly and formally and I got what he was trying to tell me right off. We were needed at home. "I've spoken with Dieter, he'd like you to accompany us home if you will? He'd like you to sit with us while we plan."

I couldn't help the shocked gasp that came flying out of my mouth. Was she ready for this? Was this a good idea?

Edward's large hand settled on my shoulder almost instantly. "It's Dieter's decision whether or not to include his mate Bella," he said in barely a whisper.

I looked to our friend whose face was now contorted in worry. "You'll be quite safe. We'd never let anything happen to you," I told her pointedly.

"Come and meet our friends," Nessa trilled excitedly. "My Nana-Me will be there and you can meet my Pa too!"

With one last look to Edward and then one to me Flick began to nod slowly. "Alright," she whispered. "I guess I better learn what it is I'm getting myself into."

The round of introductions for Flick went smoothly even though most of those we introduced her to had no idea who she was or why she was there. It all became clear the instant Dieter made an appearance. He'd been running, from wherever he'd been, and came flying in through the glass doors off the decking and right into the living room where she was standing beside me.

He reached for her hand, the movement just a blur he was so eager to be near her.

"Are you well?" he asked in a ragged voice.

It was such a normal thing to ask and I'd heard it a hundred times since learning what this family was. Mates often asked their significant others if they were well. Being apart from them was torturous and being reunited was blissful, but only once the state of the other had been established.

The intensity with which he stared at her made even me uncomfortable so I moved aside and let him slip into the space I'd occupied.

"I am very well," she whispered in reply.

His smile was blinding. Hers mirrored his and I knew, then, what her choice was going to be. She'd suffer through it all, the pain, the burning and the rush of flames as her mortal body died, just for the chance to stand beside the man she loved.

"There is to be a meeting here, very soon, I'd like you to stay and be a part of it," Dieter whispered to her as he moved very slightly closer to her.

Flick was unsure and the wave of emotions that crossed her face as she thought about the request broke my heart. She was being thrust into this so fast. I'd wager that half of what she'd learned in the last day and a half made little to no sense to her and the other half she thought was probably lies.

She nodded just once and Dieter smiled.

As mine had been, Flick's baptism was going to be one of fire.

**EPOV**

Watching the exchange between the two new lovers was almost as interesting as listening to their thoughts as it occurred. Neither was very sure what the other was thinking, or feeling, but both were utterly certain about the path they wished to take.

He was hers.

She was his.

The rest would happen as it would.

I had no doubt that Dieter was serious in his wish to be as we were. He'd not hunted – for human blood anyway – since he'd met her. Felicity had wanted no other since she'd met him. She'd chosen. He'd chosen. All that was left was for her to tell him her decision and for him to act on it.

It wouldn't be long. That much was plain and I didn't need to read their minds to know it. He wouldn't 'have' her physically until she was changed and she wouldn't have it any other way. They'd be married in days and she'd be changed right after.

As was to be expected the first to arrive were other vampires who normally resided in the continental US and the mates of those already present for council business.

Siobhan came to be with Liam. Kate came to be with Randall. Carmen to be beside Eleazar.

The Denali cousins had travelled with Kate and had arrived en masse and ready to fight. Samuel and Beatriz had not much further to travel and arrived in the early afternoon. They'd taken up residence in the Tacoma house and would be sharing it with Angelica and Nathaniel when they arrived in a few days. Julian and Mary had come to be with their coven mates Peter and Charlotte and would stay in the big house to be close to Alice and Jasper.

Garrett and Maggie were already on a plane to be with their coven mates and so were Marcus and Renata, though they would take slightly longer as they wished to take a slight detour and try to convince an acquaintance in England to follow. Time would tell.

The map I'd drawn the day before on the window was beginning to take shape now. There were close to thirty circles on it with names inked into them. Places had been claimed by those both present and those who were still travelling.

We'd had word from Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Turkey that our friends there were making travel plans. Some of them had stops to make on the way, some were coming directly. But the important thing was that, so far, nobody had declined the invitation.

"We're on our way," Bella whispered as she came to stand beside me at the window.

I kissed her hair and held her close. "We are," I replied softly.

I didn't want this, again, nobody did. But here we were again.

**BPOV**

A noisy reunion was had with those that had made it to us already. They'd travelled fast and had hurried to get here in time to begin the planning.

Nobody, it seemed, had come to watch. Everyone who came through the doors into the big house announced their intention to fight. I knew that Edward was astounded. And I knew that at some point he'd try to change their minds. I knew he felt guilty that everyone we knew and loved was putting their head on a chopping block on his behalf but I also knew one more thing that Edward probably was aware of but as yet had not reconciled for himself. Not a single guest had any intention of backing away from this fight.

The wolves arrived as a group, loping across the lawn whooping and howling to announce their presence. All eyes turned to the glass doors as they streamed in. Sam was quick to find Edward and shake his hand. Seth came to me and then to Nessa while the others moved around the room and another round of loud reunions was had.

All too soon Edward announced that it was time to begin the meeting. As the dining room began to fill I went to my husband. He was trembling slightly but doing his best to hide it. It was futile of course. Everyone in the room knew how upset and angry he was, how guilty he felt. He honestly believed that this was all on him.

Nobody else believed that for a second.

"Before Edward begins I have something to say," Eleazar announced rather formally. He stood behind his mate, one hand on her shoulder, and looked around the room. "Our leader is going to try and make you believe that this is his fault. He's going to tell you how sorry he is to have dragged you into this mess once again and he's going to try to talk you out of standing with him and facing this head on. I want you all to know, right now, this isn't his fault. He hasn't dragged me here and I hope you all feel the same. He's a good man and this evil that is being brought down on him is being brought down on us all. I'll stand with him, not for him. I'll fight with him, not for him. I hope you'll do the same."

They were fine words and they'd had the desired effect. The room erupted in cheers and encouragement as my husband stood shell-shocked. He squeezed my hand rhythmically and rocked on his heels as everyone in the room called out their desire to do just what Eleazar had prompted.

"Lead us," I whispered as I pulled him to me and craned my neck to kiss his cheek.

He stared down into my eyes for a split second and then my Edward was gone. I watched as he transformed into the leader I knew him to be. He was off and running and so was this new war.

He thanked everyone for coming and gave everyone the same speech he'd given them last time, despite Eleazar's plea for him not to. He asked anyone who wasn't comfortable to say so and to feel no guilt or regret for having removed themselves, and their families, from this fight. Nobody moved. Nobody even blinked. Not that we needed to.

I moved aside as Peter and Jasper came to the head of the table. I took my seat and pulled Nessa onto my lap. Seth stood behind me with his giant hand at my shoulder. The meeting began in earnest then.

**EPOV**

I watched as Jaz looked at the roughly drawn circles on the window and took in what he was seeing. "In family groups?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," I replied firmly.

"Can you tell us why before we start to map this out more fully?" he asked, pen poised.

I knew I was addressing everyone present then. I read from him what he needed everyone to know. Why I'd chosen to do things this way rather than as we had last time. This was important and he made me see that as he explained it to me silently. Everyone who planned to fight needed to know why and that they should fight as a family.

"Last time we were hunted because of the children so it made sense to put them at the back and our firepower at the front. Plus, last time we knew who and what was coming, and how many. This time we don't know, not yet anyway. This time they want to wipe us all out, whole families, covens, groups, and friends. They won't care where we stand. Anyone who stands on this battlefield is fair game this time around. No mercy will be shown to innocence, age or intention. Kirkov won't care if you played a part in the last conflagration and he won't care where you stand this time. I care, we should care. There is nobody more or less worthy of protection this time. Just as our opponents believe we are all worth ending I believe we are all worthy to fight for and with each other. I'll die beside my family, if it comes to that. We are bound to each other in life, and in death. I want them with me till the end. I won't force them to the back this time. We'll fight together brother," I told Jasper gruffly as I turned my back to the group to face him. My voice had risen with my conviction that this was how this had to happen. I don't know why I knew it, I just did. I'd lost myself in the moment and the room was silent when I turned to look at those present.

This wasn't a group coming together to fight for innocent children. This was an attempt to wipe out a race of people who were happy to live their lives their way. We lived as families, most of us did anyway, and I had every intention of protecting mine – or dying beside them – whatever the case may be.

"Last time mates had to watch mates die half a mile from where they stood in formation. I don't want that. I want them loved to the end. I want them beside each other. I want them to feel the love around them and I want them to know who and what it is they've chosen to fight for. This isn't about me Jaz. Kirkov might say it is, but it's not, not really. I'm the excuse but not the cause. Let him try to take my family. But they'll be beside me while he tries."

Jasper smiled then. His grin spread across his face as he turned to Peter for his comments. They shared a knowing smile and as I read their thoughts I let myself smile too.

Jasper turned to the assembly, pen poised, and wrote first his name then Alice' in two circles side by side. "My family," he said as he wrote.

He handed the pen to Peter who wrote his then his mates name in two circles to the rear of those Jasper had marked. "My family," he said as he tapped first Charlotte's circle then that of Jasper and Alice. "I'll fight with and for my family too."

The pen was passed back to me as the two brothers – borne from different parents but in every way that mattered brothers in this life – nodded firmly then took their place beside me.

My generals were ready to plan.

So was I.

* * *

**A/N: Welcome back!**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Again I thank you all for your patience. **

* * *

Chapter 27 – Friends or Foes

**EPOV**

Alice closeted herself away with the telephone for an hour. She was working with our newest friend Naj to try to work out how much time we'd have to prepare for this fight.

I tried to keep tabs on the thoughts of my sister as the conversation went along but with so many in the house it was near impossible. Her shriek startled me and Bella beside me.

Everyone in the room at the time stilled and waited. Nobody breathed, not even the wolves.

It had been two days since the planning had begun and we'd made good headway so far. The shocks came thick and fast as news spread through a community of worldwide vampires we'd had no idea existed. So many had come to us already. So many more were on their way. We'd had word from so many more that we hadn't known existed and news that so many others were coming to join us. So many were willing to stand and fight with us. The house was once again teeming with vampires.

Alice didn't bother to come downstairs once she had her answer; she merely yelled it from her rooms. "Three weeks!" she shrieked. "We've got three weeks. I've seen us breaking for Thanksgiving then we go to the clearing the next morning. We've got three weeks!"

Relief was the first emotion that flooded my system. Panic was the next. Until Bella threw her arms around me and kissed me hard.

"It's enough time," she bellowed as she let my lips go. "We've got time," she began to chant as others in the room took up the mantra.

I was struck dumb as I thought about Alice' declaration. We had three weeks to plan for a largely unknown entity. Three weeks to say and do all the things we needed to before our time may be up.

It had to be enough to hold on to. We had time enough to plan, to plot. Three weeks. As the cacophony built in the house so did my confidence. We could do this I told myself as I hugged Bella harder. "Time," I whispered into her temple and kissed her again.

In the past forty-eight hours our numbers had almost doubled.

Rennie and his Anna arrived from Germany, Jonathon, Melinda and Ethan had come all the way from Australia. Susan and Holly made their way from New Zealand and they'd taken our Russian friends Demetri, Rose, Sveta and Ivana under their wing and had made them welcome in another of the safe houses in Seattle.

By this time we'd had word from those that had been harder to notify. Benjamin, Tia, Amun and Kebi would be joining us in a few days as would our friends from China and Japan. I hadn't been surprised to hear that Benjamin and his lovely mate were coming but the arrival of Amun and Kebi had stunned me.

I wasn't sure yet what had changed his mind but something had. He'd been adamant that he wouldn't fight Vladimir and Stefan. But now, this time, he was coming and according to Benjamin he was not only ready, but eager to fight this foe. There was obviously a history there, a story to go with the change of heart, and I looked forward to hearing it told if only because it might provide another facet to the information we had about Kirkov.

Marcus and Renata had arrived safely along with Nathaniel and Angelica, making Nessa and Angel supremely happy. The four hybrids gravitated to one another whenever they were near. It was a pleasure to watch them together. The two adults indulged the little girls and played endless games with them whenever they weren't needed elsewhere.

Abel and Senna had sent word that they would get to us as soon as they could and another telegram announcing that Zuhar and Kachiri would follow soon after made everyone in attendance happy.

Zafrina and Alistair had sent word that they too would be arriving but as yet they hadn't appeared and we had no way to tell when they would.

Now that we had an actual time frame the urgency of contacting – and greeting arrivals – had been removed. Those who were yet to join us now knew when they were required and could plan accordingly. The panic of leaving their homes so abruptly was removed and it became easier to generate a working list, and the map. The trust those still travelling placed on us to put them where they were most needed on the map was staggering and humbled me greatly. The thoughts of those helping plan echoed my own awe at the faith being shown.

With a living room filled to the brim with excitable vampires it was Emmett who broke the tension.

"Well, nearly the whole band is back together!" He announced loudly out of nowhere. "I think this calls for a party, don't you?" he bellowed to loud cheers and howls of approval.

He looked to me, briefly, his need for my approval in his thoughts and when I nodded minutely in his direction his response was swift. He came to me, knuckled me in the shoulder, told me 'good call, bro' and then ran out the backdoor and down the deck to round up as many partiers as he could.

The rest of that weekend was spent in the backyard as vampires, wolves and humans reacquainted themselves with their friends and families. Friendships were reformed, bonds strengthened and new ones fashioned. Just as it had the last time we'd all come together to fight, the large group began to work as one. Theories and plans, plots and schemes emerged as opinions were heard and strengths and weaknesses ironed out.

Bella and I stood on the decking and watched for a long while that night. Hand in hand we watched each of the smaller groups that had formed in turn.

Nessa sat between Melinda's knees as the Australian girl braided her hair. Su sat beside them knotting strands of cotton into a thick rope for Nessa's wrist. Rennie had Anna on his knee as he regaled Liam and Aro with tales of his latest escapade in Germany.

Samuel sat locked in fierce debate with Marcus. Holly kept Angel amused by constantly morphing into one vampire after another and mimicking – quite badly – the various accents and mannerisms that went with each of her chosen clones.

Carlisle stood off to one side with Charlie talking about the best fishing lure to use for their next big fishing trip. Sam had Ethan on his left and Eleazar on his right and the three of them were talking tactics. Peter and Jasper were with their mates on the other side of the lawn; their discussion was almost identical to that going on on the other side.

Esme had Sue and Renee at the grill. Rosie and Beatriz oversaw the whole operation while the wolves salivated at the smells coming from the charcoal.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Bella whispered beside me.

I hugged her hard and agreed. "It's all because of you beautiful girl," I told her sincerely.

"Me?" she giggled. "How do you figure?"

"You brought us all together. Without you we'd never have these wonderful people in our lives. Thank you baby," I told her with a kiss to her hair.

**BPOV**

I just stood, staring up at him, and wondering how in hell I'd managed to get so fucking lucky!

Here he was this big, powerful man and he was all mine. He wasn't scared, he wasn't running and he'd not mentioned hiding either. Not this time. This time he was resolved and confident and ready to do what we must. We'd come so far from the frightened children we'd been nearly four years ago. We truly were a team, finally.

I took one more look around the area and made sure that Nessa was being watched and that everyone was settled and happy in their little groups. I turned back to my husband and grinned cheekily.

"Take a run with me?" I whispered conspiratorially.

He too took a long look around before he turned back to me but his expression wasn't the one I thought I'd see there. I had expected desire, lust even. Instead I saw hesitation and worry. He shook his head minutely and I prepared for whatever his reasoning was going to be.

"We can't, not right now," he whispered as he bent his head and let his lips brush mine softly. "There is somewhere you need to be right now."

"There is?" I asked cautiously. His grimace was stronger this time, as though something someone was thinking was bothering him. I'd seen this look on his face often enough to recognise it now. I gave the crowd another brief look then turned so that my back was to them. "Who?" I asked carefully.

He ran his hand through his hair and bit his bottom lip as though he were trying to decide whether to tell me something or not. I hated that. So I hissed softly and pursed my lips at him.

He let out a long breath then stepped a little closer. He put his lips to my ear and kissed me softly. "Our friend is to be turned tonight. Dieter has asked you to be there for her. I said I'd ask."

I gasped, shocked. Stunned really. "So soon?" I asked. "Where are they?" I scanned the group but couldn't see or hear them.

He tugged my hand and led me through the house and towards the front door. He slid my car keys into my hand and pressed another light kiss to my forehead. "They're at her house. It's already done Bella. He did it an hour ago. It's what she wanted, just like you did baby," he sighed as he stroked the backs of his fingers across my cheek.

Had my heart still beat it would've been racing now. I could feel the panic, the worry building inside me. I knew what she was going through. I knew the pain. I could almost feel the fire inside myself when I thought of the agony she was likely already experiencing. "I have to go," I told him.

"I know. I love you," he told me firmly as he let my hand go.

I kissed him quickly on the lips then fled out the door and to my waiting car. He'd put it in the drive, the door open. I shot him one last glance and then I tore out of the driveway and away to Flick's house.

I got up onto the 101 and realised I had no idea where Flick lived! I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and slid it into the holder on the dash. I was just pushing speed dial to get Edward when it beeped that I had a message.

A slow grin spread across my face when I saw the message was from Alice.

~You're a good friend Bella. 14 Marks Road. I can see her and she's going to be fine, Alice xxx~

I sent her a quick thank you and headed for the other side of town.

The house was dark and quiet when I got there. Just the outside light on the porch was on. I knocked softly knowing that Dieter would hear. He looked haggard and drawn when he opened the door to me. Whatever agonies he'd gone through showed on his face.

I wasn't expecting him to pull me to him, but he did.

"Oh god, what have I done?" he sobbed against my shoulder. "She's in agony and I can't help her."

I patted his back and held him tightly. I didn't know Dieter very well but if Flick loved him then that told me all that I needed to know.

"She'll be okay, I promise. Alice has seen her, she's going to be fine," I told him confidently. "Can I see her?"

He let me go and nodded bleakly. "She's in her room."

I followed behind him and gave him a moment to announce my presence before going into the room. I listened to him quietly whisper to her, his voice tender and sweet as he explained that I was here to see her.

It was then that I realised that I knew very little about this girl I called friend. I hadn't known her address or seen how and where she lived. I didn't know the layout of the house or what was going to make her more or less comfortable. I'd been told, twice now, that I was a good friend, but as I stood outside her bedroom door I didn't think that I was.

I could hear her quietly mewling, like a small cat that was in pain. Dieter came out of the room and ushered me inside, telling me that he needed to hunt and that he'd be back as soon as he could.

I stiffened. I knew he intended to be as we were but had no idea the strength of his control for it. He'd just tasted Flick's human blood after all. "Are you...?" I asked cautiously.

He blinked and startled. "The forest to the west is well stocked, I won't go far," he said bleakly.

I smiled then. He was trying so hard, for her. "Thank you," I whispered, knowing he'd understand what for. He dipped his head and then made a run for the back door.

I didn't know what I was going to see when I got my first look at my friend and was actually startled when I did. She was lying on top of the blankets and she was in obvious agony.

I went into the bathroom I could see through an open door to my left and wet a washcloth. I sat beside her on the bed and bathed her face and neck. She whimpered throughout.

I rifled through her dresser and collected a clean jersey and a pair of soft sleep pants. I recalled well how rough materials increased the sensitivity of my skin as I'd burned and I didn't want that for Flick.

I talked to her as I changed her out of the blood stained clothing she wore. I told her how brave she was, how it would all be over soon and how she'd get her eternity with her love.

As I stroked her hair I hoped I wasn't lying.

There was still a fight to be had.

**EPOV**

I was sorry to be breaking up the party but it had to be done. The humans amongst us needed to know that there would be newborns present during the planning and execution of this fight and that they were not going to be safe.

I'd talked to Charlie and Renee and whilst they understood they were of course upset and worried. I did my best to reassure them that not only would I keep their girls safe but that I'd also do my best to contain the newborns, however many we were likely to be hosting.

Sue Clearwater and the wives and girlfriends of the wolves were duly informed about the extra security they would need during this time and agreed to stay as close to the Rez – and the pack – as possible until it was all over. Charlie and Renee agreed to spend as much time there as possible while newborns were near. I did my best to reassure them that their relationship to us would be explained to anyone arriving but I could tell that Charlie, especially, was worried.

I called small groups into the house once the humans had departed. My council members were first, sans Dieter of course. I'd not heard anything from Bella, or read anything from Alice since she'd texted to let Bella know that all would be well. I didn't know when I'd see my wife again next and hoped that it wouldn't be a full three days.

Eleazar had been diligent in his writings. He'd mapped out what he knew of Kirkov and those he knew to be in his guard. It wasn't much and the details were vague and very out of date, but with nothing else to go on we had to use what we had available.

Whilst the council wasn't to be the centre of communications, nor the hub of information regarding the fight, I began with them because ultimately, should we fail, we needed to plan what would happen for those left behind.

This was tricky.

Not knowing who, or the types of needs those left behind would require, made it difficult to strategise for every contingency. After the first hour we had a basic plan and a list of jobs for each of us to have completed over the next two weeks. That would give us one week up our sleeve should anything come to light that meant we needed to change any arrangements. The thought that another scenario similar to Angel's birth could occur without proper planning made us all sick to the stomach.

Each family would need to make their own plans for their own needs should someone be lost, and what that would mean for those left behind, but as far as the council was concerned we needed everyone involved in this fight to have some type of access to the information – and the funds – we'd already amassed. It was decided that everyone would be given the number to a secure locker and in it we would place all the relevant documents and account information that would help the next council continue. Any observers who happened to come along this time would act as a temporary council until a new ballot could be held.

With those present in agreeance that we'd fight as small family groups our next task involved the gift registry. Placing those who would have the most benefit to the fight in places on the map without moving them too far from their family members was paramount. In the end it was just easier to place those with useable gifts in the most strategic places on the map and then fill in the spaces around them with their own families or coven mates.

Not knowing our full numbers yet meant that we needed the map to be more fluid this time, easily changeable as our numbers swelled.

It was Alice who came up with the brilliant idea to use sticky notes – that very handy invention – to move the various participants around on our map until we were happy with the placements. We'd decided to stick with the window rather than an actual piece of paper and it now began to fill up as sticky notes replaced the hastily drawn circles in marker. Several different coloured squares of paper began to fill the glass out. The 'bad guys' had been given bright orange sticky notes to denote their names, although nobody was sure that we were even remotely close to being accurate. Our side, or the 'good side' as it had been dubbed, bore hundreds of blue labels. Most had names written on them, some were still blank. But with each passing hour new names were written and the blue squares moved about.

Yellow squares held the names of the pack and then there was just one small, individual green square on its own on the right hand window pane. Riley. As yet I'd not managed to place him, or include or exclude him from our plans.

With the inclusion of Jonathon, Emmett, Jasper, Samuel and Marcus to the discussion we were able to make a good start. Seeing as I was the catalyst behind this whole mess it was decided that I would once again take front line. I'd need to be able to read as much from Kirkov as possible to allow our side as much time as possible to move and adapt to his plans.

As much as I wanted my family with me I allowed Eleazar and Peter talk me into having Nessa, along with Seth and Angel, at the very back of the fight. Seth would hate that but I hoped he'd also come to terms with the very real task he was going to be set. Protecting our children. I knew that Nessa would not tolerate being apart from him during the actual fighting and was fairly sure that Bella would not leave my side. None of us would want the two small girls anywhere near the front line, so to the back, with their own personal bodyguard in the shape of Seth, they went.

The two girls would learn to defend themselves this time but that didn't mean any of us wanted them in the thick of it when it began. Carlisle who, this time, would stay at the rear and act as doctor throughout, would be to Angel's flank. He protested loudly, saying that he had meant what he said. That he'd stand right beside me and fight this time, without hesitation. But we had to do this blind this time. We didn't really have enough information about who we were to face so it made sense to have the doctor in the field at the back, ready to take care of any injuries. In the end he'd agreed only when Emmett reminded him how close we could've come to saving one or two of the deceased had Carlisle been available sooner. Every thought turned to Brady and Carlisle acquiesced.

Pulling a few others in from the party, as well as the wolves, it was decided to hold off on changing the map any further until we knew more. I didn't like this idea but the majority ruled and I had to give it up in the end. I thought there was more we could do. I was overruled and did my best to leave it at that.

When the meeting disbanded I asked Eleazar and Peter to stay behind. There would be no privacy, of course, but I needed the two of them to walk me through what we knew for certain about Kirkov one more time before I put it to bed for another night.

Eleazar was keen to promote his family's eagerness to help but Peter was still not sure whether to trust him, or them. I said nothing, preferring to listen and watch the interaction and try to gain from their thoughts what issues they had with each other.

Eleazar was resentful that Peter scoffed at Raul's eagerness to come and help. Peter was offended that Raul would suggest coming when it was his Aunt that had set the whole sorry mess into motion. Eleazar countered that had Raul known Ana's intentions he'd have done something. Peter doubted that very much and said so citing Eleazar's own reluctance to 'do something' when he'd become aware that Stefan and Vladimir intended to harm us. Eleazar got on the defensive, Peter's shackles rose, and before I knew it I had them at each other's throats across the table.

The irony was not lost to me.

Three years ago it had been me with my hand round Eleazar's throat.

Eventually they calmed themselves down, without any intervention by me, and agreed to at least listen to one another before trying to take each other out again.

Eleazar assured Peter that Raul had good control of his guard and that any sign of Ana's defection would've been noticed. Eleazar told Peter that Ana had spent years in isolation inside the castle and that there had been no change to her demeanour before the defection. He swore that he hadn't known, that neither Raul nor Daria had known, and that they were determined to come, with the entire guard, to stand with us. He was careful to punctuate the 'with' us.

Peter assured Eleazar that at the slightest hint of deception he would personally murder the brother and sister and their mates and wouldn't blink an eye in the process.

Peter stalked off to find Charlotte, leaving me with a very unhappy Eleazar. I couldn't have cared less for the man but I saw and understood the situation he was in. I believed him when he said his niece and nephew had nothing to do with bringing this about. Maggie had already confirmed that there were no lies in Eleazar's statements regarding his family and I believed him for myself on top of her assurances. To me that was an end to it, for Peter not so much. Peters view was that Eleazar had lied by omission before and that whilst Maggie could see that what he was saying now was the truth, who was to say that he knew more and was hiding it. We came to an impasse and it was left as it was, unresolved, just like it had been when it was me angry with Eleazar.

I asked him to make sure that his family would arrive in plenty of time to prove themselves and to help plan the map and he promised that they would. I had to leave it at that for now.

I took a very cranky, over tired Nessa and a very wary and sad Seth home to the cottage soon after. Our bed was cold and lonely without Bella in it. I hugged her pillow to me and drank in her scent while I waited for her.

**Romania**

An air of panic permeated the walls of the ancient castle and made the inhabitants edgy whether they be human or 'other'. Everyone felt it. The servants grew wary of their masters and the masters became ever increasingly short and discontented with those who served them.

Raul and Amelia kept to their rooms as much as possible, not so Daria and Dom. Dom continued with his duties inside the castle and while Raul's retreat left a gap in the continuity of the functioning castle, Dom stepped in to fill that breach as best he could. The guard continued to search for the lost Aunt though it had become increasingly obvious that she was not going to return.

When the news that she'd thrown her lot in with Kirkov was confirmed by nomads who mentioned it in passing during a stop at the castle, the roar that left the Lords throat startled wildlife fifty miles around. Any and all attempts to contact Ana were ignored. Two of Raul's guard were caught in the village close to Kirkov's lair and were summarily executed. Their clothing and ashes returned to the castle in a small wooden crate addressed to Raul personally. The roar that day reached Turga, eighty-five miles to the north.

Within days of the confirmation Eleazar called the castle to speak with his nephew. He too had had his suspicions confirmed during his call with Naj. Nephew shared his news with his Uncle, uncle relayed the grim details he'd learned.

It was as though all hope drained from the younger man's body upon hearing his uncle speak. Hearing Eleazar confirm Ana's defection, and the impending uprising to bring down the Cullen coven, stirred feelings within Raul that he thought he'd long ago buried.

He no longer harboured any ill will toward the vampires in America. Not since having found his own peace, his own happiness, had he had any real thoughts of revenge or reprisal for what he'd witnessed in the clearing that day. It was only now, now that he had a mate of his own and his sister had found hers, that he understood what it was the Cullen's had been fighting to protect. Raising an army to keep that bond safe could be the only option. Raul and Daria both understood that now.

It was frightening – Raul had explained the evil that lived inside Kirkov's mind by this point – to the siblings that a relative of theirs would take part in another war. That Ana had been instrumental in its planning and had sided with Kirkov and his band of misfits was not only illogical but appalling to them both.

Brother and sister could recall with perfect vampiric recollection the horror in the clearing in that dreary American town that day. Forever etched into their minds was the sight, scent and sound of their brethren slaughtered. Neither begrudged the army that had done it, but neither could forget the horror that had been witnessing it.

That their own Aunt could instigate, and condone, doing it again was something that neither of the siblings could comprehend.

What could be done to stop it nobody could fathom? Dom suggested attempting to take care of Kirkov and his guard before they had a chance to make the trek to the Americas. With a personal guard of around twenty Raul and Dom thought they may have a chance. Eleazar, however, did not.

He explained that Kirkov had been turning humans randomly and was hoping to cash in on their total lack of control and ruthless bloodlust as the fight unfolded. His numbers would swell again when he hit American shores as he gathered more and more of humanities flotsam and jetsam to his 'cause', effectively creating an army of his own. That this army would be uncontrollable would be thought of as a plus to Kirkov.

Raul had to concede that even in smaller numbers than would present itself in America his guard would be no match for Kirkov's. Some of the older vampires sentinels had been with him for centuries and Raul's had been with him for mere months. It would be like lambs to a slaughter and no good could come of it.

Even the notion that a small army should try to take out Kirkov on his home turf was shot down when Eleazar explained that such an idea would be tantamount to suicide.

Daria sobbed quietly opposite her brother as they listened to Eleazar pass on the information he'd received from Naj. When the tale had been fully relayed Eleazar gave what was left of his family a chance to discuss their options.

Frank and open discussions were had. Daria was frightened to return to America but was reassured that if they went this time they would side with Eleazar and the group who would best be able to ensure her safety as a hybrid.

Raul didn't relish the idea of the trek, though. Since his return to Romania after the last altercation he'd done his best to learn all he could about the Cullen's and their gifts and way of life. Though he now regretted his hasty mentally-delivered threat to Edward Cullen upon his retreat he had no way to gauge what reception he would garner should he attend. Edward's suggestion that the group of witnesses at the rear of the fight leave and never return had been heard and understood by Raul at least.

Eleazar had assured his family as best he could that should they wish to attend that they would be welcome. Nobody wished them harm and all of those currently present in the Cullen house were all eager and willing to assure the Romanians of that over the telephone, should Raul and Daria require that reassurance before travelling. Their role – or lack of a role – in the previous war was understood and none of the previous participants wanted any harm to come to those who merely stood and watched. Eleazar had explained too that there had been others who had only witnessed. English men and women and other hybrids had not partaken in the savagery on the field that day and they too would be welcomed to attend in any capacity they wished to this time around.

Surprisingly it was Amelia who delivered the most significant reason for the Romanian family to make the monumental trip to America and fight beside those who had fought on the other side of the clearing that fateful day.

"If it was us, here, who were being threatened with a war, would you not wish that Eleazar would bring his family to assist us?" she asked her husband, sister in law and brother in law. Not waiting for an answer she continued in a softer voice than she usually adopted. "Our family may be small and contained here in this castle but I'd hate to have to stand alone and fight for it. The Cullen's have done nothing to deserve this. They have a right to their happiness, as do we. Kirkov wants to destroy that for no reason. We have to show that we don't agree, that even though Ana is of our family we don't agree with what is coming down on them." She left her seat and moved around her husband's office with practised ease. Turning once again to face her family she put her hands out in front of her and pled. "Stay if you feel you must, but if we stay here and Kirkov prevails we'll be sitting ducks ourselves. Better to be on the field and fight than to cower here, no?"

Raul stood from his chair and moved to his mates side, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles affectionately. "If we can all agree on that then there is but one option available to us, is there not?" he asked the room.

Dom stood, bringing Daria to her feet with him. He nodded firmly to Raul who in turn nodded to Daria. Hanging her head she silently agreed with a nod of her head.

Crossing to his desk Raul dialled America. When the call connected he looked once more at each of his family members for their subtle reassurances. "Uncle Eleazar, we shall leave at first light. Kindly inform Edward Cullen that my guard is at his disposal."

**BPOV**

Flick's screaming would lessen for a few minutes each hour but her sweating and trembling didn't ease for one moment. She thrashed and writhed, moaned and mewled the entire night.

Dieter was beside himself with worry. Like all mates he was frightened that he'd made the wrong decision, scared that she'd hate him for what she was about to become. Like all mates he suffered as she suffered.

He hunted twice while I was there. He came back filthy and smelling of deer blood each time. He told me he hated it, the taste of it, the texture of it, but that it was well worth it for Felicity. I smiled as wide as I could and thanked him. For the sacrifice he was making and for trying so hard to battle his thirst.

We bathed her again during the night as we tried to rid her skin of the sweat that the venom forced from her pores. She went through two more changes of clothes before I left them for a quick visit home and a quick hunt for myself.

I was desperate to see Edward and Nessa and was bowled over by them, and a just as eager Seth, the instant I was within hearing range of the cottage.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Nessa bellowed as she flung herself up into my arms. "I've missed you so much!"

"Me too, little one," I told her as I kissed all over her rosy cheeks.

I set her down and accepted a very warm hug from Seth. "How is she?" he asked cautiously.

"It won't be much longer," I told him. I knew it didn't answer his question but I knew he understood that there never was going to be any good news to deliver. He knew how we burned.

Seth settled Nessa on his hip as I moved toward Edward. He reached for my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing my wedding rings as he'd done so many times before. "Are you well?" he asked, for the millionth time.

"I am," I whispered.

Seth cleared his throat; obviously sorry to be interrupting what was quite likely to be a very private reunion. "I think I'm going to take Nessa to the big house for a bit. Bound to be newbies arriving," he chuckled.

Without taking his eyes from mine Edward replied huskily. "Good idea. We'll be along soon."

"Yeah, right," Seth chuckled as he set off with Nessa down the well-worn path.

"What's a newbie, Sethy?" Nessa asked as their scent dissipated.

Keeping my hand in his Edward pulled me to him. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply of his scent. What had only been twenty-six hours felt like a lifetime apart. Edward echoed my action and buried his nose in my hair, drawing deeply from me. The contented sigh that came from between his lips was music to my ears.

"Have you hunted?" he asked as he drew away a little.

"Not yet," I told him, smiling.

He tugged on my hand and within seconds we were running into the forest.

The hunt was quick and frenzied. We shared two large male deer before we were sated. At least our thirsts were sated, our other needs were not.

Our coupling was quick and frenzied too. We wasted no time divesting ourselves of our clothing and within minutes we were both panting on the forest floor, spent.

There was no desperation yet, no regret or panic in our lovemaking. Yet. That would come. The closer the fight became the more desperate we'd become. Each of us would be wondering if it was to be the last time for us. Neither of us would put voice to it until the very end, that last moment before we would head off to the field to fight. Only then would we admit our fear.

I hoped this time we wouldn't. I hoped this time we'd feel more confident, having done it once and succeeded, but I knew that fear was a strange beast and that it would come for us at some point.

That point was not upon us today, however.

"Will you return to Flick's side?" he asked quietly as we dressed.

"Yes," I told him truthfully. "She doesn't really need me but Dieter does."

I watched him redo the buttons on his shirt and ogled him unashamedly. "Do you like what you see Mrs Cullen?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

"Definitely," I giggled. "Is there anything I need to know about before I head back there?" I asked as he took my hand and we began the run towards home.

"Not that I can think of, no. Nothing's changed. Seth was right though, there will be new arrivals by now and I think they'll arrive in a steady stream from now on in."

"What will you do about Flick's absence from school tomorrow?" I asked as we neared the path that led from the cottage to the big house.

"Nothing really. Linda will handle the phones and if anyone asks I'll tell them Felicity's ill."

"Alright," I told him as he pulled us to a stop at the back deck. "And Riley?"

He hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "I don't know yet. I'll talk to the others; see what they want to do."

"That's fair," I told him with a nod. "I hope I will see you again before morning, but if I don't I'll see you at school?" I posed it as a question.

His smile was sad but it was a smile none the less. He kissed my fingers and then the corner of my mouth softly. "I'll miss you every minute you are gone."

With one more brief kiss I ran. Around the side of the house to my car and then I was away, away to Flick's. There would be time enough yet for longer goodbyes.

I could hear her screams before I reached the little house fully. There were no close neighbours but I still began to worry about the consequences of her enduring her change in such close proximity to suburbia. I wished Edward was closer, he'd hear any errant thought of any human in the area and we'd be able to head off any untoward attention. But I was alone. No Edward by my side and no Alice to show me the way forward.

Dieter was in worse condition when I arrived this time than he had been the last. Dishevelled didn't come close to the state of him. I'd been gone only three hours and yet he looked, once again, as though he'd not showered or shaved in a week. His hair was standing on end from being pulled at the roots by nervous fingers and his shirt and trousers were rumpled and creased, probably from alternating between sitting and pacing.

"She still screams," he said, his face twisted with torment.

I patted his hand and soothed him as best I could. "It'll be worth it in the end," I mumbled, hoping I wasn't lying.

He led me through the little house to the back where the bedroom was. Her screams had softened into mewls again but I knew that it wouldn't last. Her scent had changed again since I'd been gone. The venom was eating at her and changing her smell to the rich, spicy tone that she would have for eternity as a vampire.

As I moved to the bedside I noted the other changes. Her hair was fuller, paler, the salon implemented waves gone forever. Her brows here more defined, arched higher and her breasts were fuller, rounder. Her lips were now to be forever the ruby of the immortal. Her flesh had lost its rosy glow and she now shone with the pale opalescence that came in during the last desperate hours of her body's mortal death.

"Make it stop," my friend moaned as I moved to take her hand in mine.

She was covered in a thin film of sweat once again. Her hand was cold now, closer to my own body temperature than ever before. She was burning but I knew she was far from 'done'. I didn't have the heart to tell her though and I knew that Dieter would not have either.

"You're doing so well," I whispered. I held the washcloth out to Dieter and waited until he'd left the room to soak it in cold water before I spoke again. He'd hear anyway. "Hold on Flick, just hold on," I told her quietly. She sobbed pathetically, whimpering through the pain. "He's worth it, I promise you, it's worth it. Just get through this part."

Pale pink tears leaked from the corners of both eyes as she struggled on the soaked mattress. "Kill me...just do it..." she begged, desperate.

I smiled then. Really smiled, or tried to. I pushed her hair off her forehead and then took the washcloth from the returned Dieter. I wiped her face and rid her of the cloying sweat. "No, beautiful girl, I won't. I can't. I love you, Dieter loves you and you've got a whole life waiting for you after this." I wiped her eyes as her tears came harder and faster. "Shhh, you can do this. You can. I know you can." I turned to Dieter who I could tell was struggling within himself. I nodded to the door of the room, "You should hunt again. You'll feel better."

"I can't deny I need to," he said solemnly.

"You shouldn't try to deny what you are, what you need," I told him honestly. Edward had told me that so many times after my change. "I know it's hard to change the habits of a lifetime, but you're doing well too." I smiled when he nodded. "Go, I won't leave her."

He rushed to her side, not bothering to temper his desperation or his vampiric nature with her now. He kissed the back of her hand and inhaled into her hair at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. In a choked whisper he told her he wouldn't be long and that he loved her. And then he was gone and I was alone with my friend.

I spent the next three hours telling my friend all about what she could look forward to once the hellish transformation had done its work. She seemed calmer, screamed and whimpered less in those few hours and by the time Dieter returned her heart had begun its last desperate attempt to rid itself of the venom in her system. It flew as she burned.

**EPOV**

Nessa slept in the big house that night. I had made myself very plain, and clear, that I would not suspend classes or stray from the timetable at my school in any way, shape or form, so those gathered who wished to continue working on the map and the plans would have to utilise the night-time hours to make that happen.

Come morning I would be going to work.

There were furious mental musing conducted while I stood silently in the dining room. There were hurried whispers between coven mates and a few louder expressions of disagreement with my decision but eventually I was joined by almost all the vampires present. The exceptions were understandable. Rose and Em had taken Angel home to bed and Carlisle had gone to the hospital for his shift.

I'd had no word from Bella since she'd returned to Felicity's side earlier in the afternoon and while I desperately wanted her beside me as the planning continued I knew she was needed there, too.

Our group had swelled again early in the evening and we welcomed Charles and Makenna along with Furkan, Busra and Mehmet into the house like the family they were. Furkan – who was eager to be called Alex now that he was once again in America – strode right toward me and shook my hand vigorously.

"We'll fight, again, for you," he told me pointedly before returning to the living room and rejoining his coven mates for the reunion.

Since then we'd gone over the map dozens of times, moving the squares of paper from side to side as new information came to us in dribs and drabs. We had nothing monumental, or anything that would change the course of the fight, but each new coven that arrived shared with us a little more knowledge of Kirkov and what he was bringing with him.

It seemed as though the Denali girls and the Cullen Coven were the only ones who'd never had cause to fear this group. I'd heard of them, of course, Kirkov's reputation had always been bandied about as though he were someone to fear among our kind, but I'd never had the displeasure of making his actual acquaintance before.

I listened to those around me as his many disgusting attributes were discussed and thanked god silently that my wife and child were not there to hear it.

For all Stefan's and Vladimir's misguided self righteousness they weren't brutal in their everyday dealings. They had been fair and respected leaders in their homeland. They'd dealt with centuries of farm workers and those who toiled on the lands that gave them their immeasurable wealth with a firm but responsible air. The same could not be said of Kirkov. Despite their fatal decision to challenge us Stefan and Vladimir had never launched such an attack on any other gathering before ours. Kirkov had, often, and had spared no one.

Tales of long ago skirmishes, wars for territory or hunting rights were told in hushed whispers for the benefit of those who had not known prior. Details of his sadism, his acts of wanton destruction and his many perversions were told and retold through the night.

As the sun began to rise every mind in the house thought of Kirkov as the proverbial vampire bogey man. I didn't doubt the correlation one bit. If so many feared him there was truth to the tales. If Ana had thrown her lot in with him, after watching us slaughter her husband, he was her last bastion of hope for revenge. She knew how strong we were, how many had stood beside us, so that led me to believe that she felt Kirkov was strong enough to either take us outright or put up a good enough fight trying.

Once Renesmee was happily ensconced in her first class and I'd apprised Linda of her duties whilst Felicity was 'ill' I closed myself into my office and began the heartbreaking task of setting my children's futures to rights should we fail.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading and for your kind reviews of late. Very inspiring. **


	29. Interviews with Vampires - Edward Cullen

**After reading my own work (Cullen's Pride through to Cullen Evolution) in an attempt to get to re-know my own vamps I decided to set myself a task that would serve two purposes.**

**I needed to reconnect with them and their individual traits and idiosyncrasies.****I've had this idea for a while and was going to do it as a separate piece, but the longer it sits in my brain the more I think it can help me achieve goal number 1 above.**

**So, dear followers. Here is how this is going to go down...lol**

**My name, for the purposes of this 'plot' (and I use the word plot in its most liberal sense) is Lisa Pimm. For no other reason than my name is actually Lisa, and I needed a surname for the 'Edward' portion of the plot to help point out his nerdy, weedy old fashionedness.**

**I am an ordinary 'vamp' myself with no talent or gift to speak of. I am much younger than most of those whom I'm about to question. As a human I was a librarian and I brought with me the need for data/documentation when I was changed.**

**What follows is a collection of interviews with selected characters from my books.**

**In no particular order.**

**A random selection of characters.**

**I decided early on that I needed a legitimate 'reason' for interviewing them. A friend pointed out that no reason was necessary, but upon further thought we both decided that there would be no way my particular vamps would document anything about themselves without a solid reason.**

**These interviews occur between Bella's Dawn and the start of Cullen Evolution. Purely for my own reasons, nothing more.**

**With the implementation of the Council it was decided (in my head) that those involved in the previous war should have their thoughts documented to help those who come after. It's a slim premise, I admit, but one that I hope will allow each of my random characters to be able to freely communicate with me during their interview.**

**I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

**And for those of you who see my thin veil of 'plot' and think I'm being a twit, but who have asked for me to please finish Evolution, hang in there. This will help me finish it!**

**Once I am done relearning my own characters Evolution will continue. **

**Maxi**

**xx**

* * *

Interview conducted in the office of Principal Edward Cullen at EC College, Port Angeles, WA.

I first met Mr Edward Cullen at his family home in Forks, WA. Three brief meetings were held, at which we discussed the types of questions I would ask and the way in which the answers would be recorded and transcribed for posterity.

Edward scowls as his PA, Linda Collins, ushers me into the inner sanctum of the head of the College.

Edward: (Reaching across his desk as I make my way toward the visitors chair opposite him) It's nice to see you again Miss Pimm. Please, have a seat.

**Lisa**: Good to see you again too.

I take the offered chair and take out my recording device and set it between us on his desk. He scowls at it without any real (as far as I can tell) malice and leans back in his chair.

Knowing that he can read my thoughts I try to calm myself and prepare my first questions in my own head before speaking again.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** Please state your full name

Edward: Edward Anthony Masen Cullen

**Lisa:** The year you were turned?

Edward: 1918

**Lisa:** And your sire is?

Edward: Carlisle Cullen

**Lisa:** Your mates full name please?

Edward: The beautiful Isabella Marie Swan Masen Cullen

**Lisa:** And your daughters full name please?

Edward: The lovely Miss Renesmee Carlie Masen Cullen

**Lisa:** And your place, however you'd like to describe it, inside the Olympic Coven?

Edward: An interesting question. I am the first turned son to Carlisle Cullen and am the son of Esme, brother to Rosalie and Emmett Hale and also to Alice and Jasper Whitlock. And most recently an uncle to Angel Hale.

**Lisa:** Is that how you think others, other vampires not from your coven, see you?

Edward: (Chuckling softly) From your thoughts I can see that they don't, no. Alright Miss Pimm, I'll give you my full title as others probably perceive it. Perhaps that will make me fit where others see me. I am the surrogate leader of the Olympic Coven whilst my sire deals with some personal issues. I am to be Principal of EC College, Music Master and piano teacher here also. I am husband and mate to Isabella, father to Renesmee, somewhat of a mentor to Seth and brother to those who I've already listed. I am uncle to Angel Hale as I mentioned and friend to all comers. (He punctuates the end of his statement with another soft chuckle)

**Lisa:** And the Council? What position do you hold on the Council?

Edward: (His grin disappears now and is replaced by a darker one) For now I am Chairman.

**Lisa:** And your tenure lasts how long?

Edward: A decade

**Lisa:** We'll talk some more about the Council a little later. But for now let's go back to your own personal history. What was your age at your transformation?

Edward: (With a small chuckle) Now, Miss Pimm, I do hope you aren't going to ask the ladies that question. I was 17 at my change.

**Lisa:** Please, call me Lisa.

Edward: As you wish.

**Lisa:** Thank you. Now, is it safe to say that you were somewhat reluctant to be interviewed?

Edward: I think reluctant may be too strong a word, shall we say hesitant?

**Lisa:** Can you tell me what your hesitation stems from?

Edward: Our kind, as you well know Lisa, is taught to steer clear of being documented. It is normally in all our best interests to remain anonymous.

**Lisa:** I agree. So what was it that made you agree to this today?

Edward: My daughter. And others like her. New vampires and the humans who they choose to keep in their lives after their change. It isn't reasonable to think that there will be no humans who know of us any longer. The life we've built here is a point of example. My family consists of vampire, wolf and human alike. Should anything befall me I'd like to know that those who remain will know my story and perhaps be able to pass it on to my grandchildren, or great grandchildren if I'm lucky enough. Anything they can learn from me, or my mistakes, can only help future generations.

**Lisa:** Is it true that you voted no the first time this interview process was put to you?

Edward: That is true, yes.

**Lisa:** And your reasoning for changing your mind?

Edward: As above.

(At this point Edward leans further back in his chair and laces his hands behind his head. He smiles warmly)

**Lisa:** Alright. Is there anything you'd like to tell me about your early life, either human or vampire?

Edward: (At this point Edward turns his attention to the framed photograph of his wife and daughter that stands atop his desk. He doesn't hide the look he's given it) Until I stumbled across Isabella as a child I existed, but did not live. I had a normal childhood filled with normal childhood things. Family, friends and schooling. After I was changed I was given a chance for a new life and I am grateful for it. But, until I met Isabella it was a lonely, empty existence.

**Lisa:** As is true for most of us until we meet our mates, I'm sure. Can you describe a little about how your life has changed since meeting your mate?

Edward: Nothing is the same. (He laughs openly) Everything changed. And nothing has returned to its monotony, thank heaven. She brought with her an extended human family and a whole host of new problems, but also more fun and love than I can ever remember having had in my life prior.

**Lisa:** You say she brought problems with her? Do you mean with her parents being privy to your nature, or something else?

Edward: Partly that, yes, but also other things. Isabella wanted her family near her, even after her change, so we've all had to learn to be in close contact with humans again. It's been good for us. I think we've all regained some of our own humanity by being near her parents and friends. But quite apart from that Isabella is still very human. The most human of us all really. She also kept her friends; she still engages in very human past times and has been instrumental in teaching our daughter to behave as other humans do.

**Lisa:** Your mates change was traumatic, wasn't it?

Edward: (His cringe is not hidden) It was. Although she'd made the choice to join me in this life should anything ever befall her, none of us was prepared for how quickly that came about. The Alpha of the local shifter tribe took a shine to her and you could say that he didn't appreciate her choice of company.

**Lisa:** Your sire changed your mate, is that right?

Edward: He did. At her request.

**Lisa:** Not yours?

Edward: No. Not at my request.

(It seems that is an end to that line of questioning judging by the scowl on his face so I move along)

**Lisa:** The world will soon know of you via your school, but I wondered if you'd tell me something that nobody else knows about you?

Edward: Something personal?

**Lisa:** If you like, yes.

Edward: That's a difficult question to answer. I'm sure your other victims, oh, excuse me, volunteers, would have difficulty answering that one. Alright, something nobody else knows about me. I was once the proud owner of a lead spiked ball and chain.

(He laughs heartily)

**Lisa:** A real lead ball and chain?

Edward: Indeed it was. Part of my bucks turn and the brainchild of my two annoying brothers.

**Lisa:** (I find myself thinking back to prior interviews in my thoughts. When I hit pay dirt Edward cringes good naturedly) Ah yes. That is the buck's party that ended with yourself, your sire and your brothers rats-arsed, correct?

Edward: (Laughing harder now) It is, yes. Jasper had soaked up the good spirits emanating from our wolf friends and projected it onto us. It was a memorable night.

**Lisa:** Do your siblings gifts often end in fun then?

Edward: Not always, no. (His face clouds over at this point and I wait as patiently as I can for him to continue) Though there have been a good many times where both my siblings' gifts have saved our lives. Jasper can hype us up, or tone us down, as the situation requires and that in itself can be quite amusing. But my sister Alice' gift can be quite annoying.

**Lisa:** In what way?

Edward: Imagine being second guessed at every turn!

**Lisa:** Surely that would make for some interesting situations?

Edward: It has happened, but more often than not it makes it bloody difficult to surprise ones mate. (He laughs)

**Lisa:** I can see how that would be, yes. Thinking about your sisters gift specifically, it must bring up a few unique challenges because she is unable to see your daughter, correct?

Edward: Correct.

**Lisa:** Does that make it difficult to plan ahead for your family?

Edward: It has done, in the past, yes. We've learnt to work around it.

**Lisa:** How so?

Edward: I don't care to elaborate on that for now. I take very seriously the security surrounding my family. That is off limits in this interview.

**Lisa:** As you wish. Alright, let's move on to your school then. Can you tell us a little bit about how it's come about?

Edward: (His smile returns at this point) The idea was a simple one. I wanted the opportunity to teach music and I couldn't do that in the human realm, so I built somewhere I could. At least for a short time anyway.

**Lisa:** Is it true that the idea for the school was solely yours?

Edward: In its infancy yes. But the rest of the family soon came onboard. If I hadn't had the backing of my wife and family it never would've come to fruition.

**Lisa:** Your wife and siblings will teach here, won't they?

Edward: They will. Isabella will teach photography, Alice will teach fashion design, Jasper is to be the head of the History department and Emmett will run the mechanical sector.

**Lisa:** And your daughter will attend here?

Edward: She will. Year about, under different enrolment names to protect her secret and her gift.

**Lisa:** We'll get onto her gift shortly. You have shifters who will be attending this school also, is that correct?

Edward: It is.

**Lisa:** Would you care to elaborate?

Edward: No.

**Lisa:** Moving on. The council. Can you tell me what its main aim is?

Edward: Certainly. In its purest form it is not unlike what you are trying to achieve with your interviews. It's a central information bank.

**Lisa:** But it funds other things too?

Edward: It does. We've invested in safe houses all over the world as well as giving those registered access to travel and identity documents as well as legal advice and funds should they need it.

**Lisa:** Those registered? What does that mean?

Edward: Anyone wishing to use the services of the Council has registered with it. They pay a nominal induction fee and have access to the information stored as well as the funds.

**Lisa:** As well as a chairman does the Council have Councillors?

Edward: It does. Six at all times. They were nominated from the larger group and a democratic vote was held.

**Lisa:** Is the Council only there to serve the needs of the vampire community?

Edward: No. Our friends the wolves are members and have an equal right to the information and its resources.

**Lisa:** Alright. I'd like to move on to your gift, if I may?

Edward: If you must.

**Lisa:** Would you describe it for me, as simply or as elaborately as you'd like.

Edward: It is very simple to explain actually. I read minds.

(At this point he laughs and returns to leaning back in his chair)

**Lisa:** It's that simple? You hear what those around you are thinking.

Edward: Yes, it's that simple.

**Lisa:** Do you hear what they think or see it?

Edward: I hear it.

**Lisa:** Can you hear everyone's thoughts? Human? Wolf?

Edward: Yes, so far, with only one exception.

**Lisa:** That being your mate?

Edward: Correct.

**Lisa:** I believe she is a very powerful shield. When she was human, could you read her then?

Edward: No.

**Lisa:** So she is a shield?

Edward: You'll have to ask her that, that is her story to tell.

**Lisa:** Have you ever been able to read her?

Edward: Again, that is her business.

**Lisa:** Not yours, you don't think?

Edward: (At this point his grin lights up his whole face) It's very much my business, yes. However, gifts that can be shared only between mates should be the ladies prerogative to divulge, don't you think?

**Lisa:** (I'm unable to hold back a giggle of my own here. He slips freely from modern, 21st century man into his heritage. It is very, very attractive) (This errant thought earns me a soft growl) I agree. I'll be sure to ask her.

Edward: You do that. I'll look forward to finding out if she answers.

**Lisa:** Moving on. Your daughter's gift. Could you describe it for me please?

Edward: As she is a minor at the time of this interview, I reserve the right, as her father, to only give you vague details. Agreed?

**Lisa:** Agreed. Anything you'd care to tell me I'd be happy to document.

Edward: When she is older she will decide whether or not she wants her information documented. But for now I can tell you that one of the gifts she possesses is akin to being something of a savant. Not an idiot savant, I must stress. She can absorb and retain any and all information on any given subject and recall it at will.

**Lisa:** But can't we all do that, Edward? Our brains are cavernous.

Edward: Our capacity to _hold _information is cavernous, I agree. However, recalling and putting into practical use the information gathered are quite two different things.

**Lisa:** Are you saying she can read from a text and apply the knowledge?

Edward: An example might be easier. If I were to give her the mechanical specs text of an iPad she would be able to build one.

**Lisa:** No shit? (I blurt this out without prior thought)

Edward: Yes, no shit. (His laugh is infectious)

**Lisa:** Sorry. But that is incredible.

Edward: I agree, it is, and so is she.

**Lisa:** On the registry of gifts held by the Council your daughter is listed as an image projectionist. Would you care to comment on what that is exactly?

Edward: No. Move on.

**Lisa:** Is it true she can read minds, like you do?

Edward: No, that isn't true.

**Lisa:** It isn't? Is the registry list I've been given incorrect?

Edward: No. It's quite correct.

(At this point I remove the gift registry from my case and put it on the table in front of him. He scans it with his eyes only and then smiles at me)

Edward: Your interpretation of her gift is incorrect, not the listing you've just presented me with. She isn't like me. Our gifts are quite different. I cannot turn my gift off.

**Lisa:** But she can? Is that the difference between you?

Edward: It is. She can choose to read from you, I cannot.

(It's now obvious to me that he can be quite the pedant. This thought earns me another soft growl and I quickly change tack)

**Lisa:** How would you describe the relationship between your daughter and Seth Clearwater?

Edward: He is hers, she is his. It's very simple.

**Lisa:** Is it true he imprinted on her the day she was born?

Edward: It is, yes.

**Lisa:** And that he played a part in hunting, and ending, the three rogues who tried to take her?

Edward: He did.

**Lisa:** And has she imprinted on him then?

Edward: I don't believe so, no. We call it bonded.

**Lisa:** Bonded. Yes, I can see that they could be bonded. Can she read Seth?

Edward: If she chooses to, and with his permission, yes.

**Lisa:** Does he give her permission?

Edward: You'd have to ask him.

**Lisa:** Alright. Let's move on. Have you ever sired?

Edward: No.

**Lisa:** Have you ever wanted to?

Edward: No.

**Lisa:** But your mate...

(He gives me no time to form the rest of my question before he continues, quite firmly)

Edward: My mate was turned by my sire, at _her_ request. I have never had the desire to turn another. That is an end to that line of questioning Miss Pimm.

**Lisa:** Understood. Is there anything you'd care to share with me about the conflagration that occurred here recently between yourself and the Romanians?

Edward: (He thinks on this a moment before answering with what has been, so far, his most candid recollection) A few months ago our Romanian friends came to meet with us here. There was a disagreement on a point of unwritten law regarding, for want of a better term, interspecies relationships. Unfortunately it could not be resolved with words alone.

**Lisa:** Interspecies relationships? Do you mean the bond between your daughter and Mr Clearwater?

Edward: I do.

**Lisa:** And this perceived flouting of this unwritten law led to a fight, is that right?

Edward: It did indeed.

**Lisa:** Is it true you lead an army, Edward?

Edward: Some would call it that, yes.

**Lisa:** What do you call it?

Edward: I call it a coming together of vampires and wolves that refused to condone the annihilation of innocent children on the whim of an outdated, arbitrary pair of fools.

**Lisa:** And you lead this coming together?

Edward: I did.

**Lisa:** Can you describe the outcome for me?

Edward: The outcome? That is quite simple. We won.

**Lisa:** Others have told me it was a vicious battle.

Edward: Have they?

**Lisa:** (It is at this point that I realise that he is playing with me and has no intention of answering with any fact or provable comment) They have.

Edward: Well then, you'll have to take their word for it, won't you?

**Lisa:** Alright Edward, we'll leave that alone then. (I can't help but laugh at this point. He is very difficult to talk to, not least because he is so self assured and so very attractive. I earn another growl but move on.) My last question for you is this. What does the future hold for Mr Edward Cullen?

Edward: Another simple answer. A peaceful life with my family and continued success when my school opens.

**Our interview concluded then and as I was leaving he thanked me for coming and apologised for not giving me too much to work with. As a concession he agreed to meet with me at the conclusion of all the other interviews to revisit some of the questions. **

**I must confess, just sitting across from him for the hour it took was enough reward for me. **

* * *

**A/N: As I said, a slim premise...lol**

**RL has thrown me a bit of a curve in the form of a dreaded tumour. I'm fighting, tooth and nail, to be well enough to finish this bugger of a story. **

**I have several of these ready to be published and I will upload as many, or as few, as readers can handle or would like to read. I will leave that choice up to you. **

**Let me know who you'd like to hear from, or who you couldn't possibly stand to listen to, and I'll do my best to produce those interviews. **

**Again, for all your patience, I thank you. **

**Please review. Maxi xxx**


	30. Interviews with Vampires - Randall Kade

Today I was fortunate to interview with Randall Kade.

We met in the conference room at EC College. Prior to this interview I had never met Mr Kade in person and the only information I had about him was gathered from the form on which he registered for the Council.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa: **Hello Mr Kade, I'm Lisa Pimm, it's a pleasure to meet you**.**

Randall: Please call me Randall and it's great to meet you too.

**Lisa: **Then please call me Lisa. There are just a few standard questions that I've asked everyone and then we can get onto a few of the more individualised ones. Can we start by you stating your full name please?

Randall: Sure. I'm Randall Stephen Kade

**Lisa: **The year you were turned?

Randall: 1956

**Lisa: **Your age at your transformation?

Randall: 23

**Lisa: **And your sire is?

Randall: Jonathon Wallace

**Lisa: **I believe you have no mate, is that correct?

Randall: Right now, yeah.

**Lisa: **And your place, however you'd like to describe it, inside your coven?

Randall: We're nomads. I guess we're known as the American nomads but I'm not American myself. I hang with a couple of others.

**Lisa: **You're Australian, is that right?

Randall: Yep. Aussie born and bred. Little town called Sydney, you mighta heard of it?

(So far the entire interview is conducted with an impish grin on Mr Kades face. It isn't difficult to see why others have christened him a 'rogue' and a 'rake', he exudes charm)

**Lisa: **I have heard of it, yes. Can you describe for me your position on the Council?

Randall: Did Eddie give you permission to ask about the Council, before I answer?

**Lisa: **Eddie being Edward Cullen?

Randall: Yeah, that's him.

**Lisa: **He spoke quite freely about the Council himself.

(At this point I remind Mr Kade that he is free to answer, or not, any question he so chooses. Instead he excuses himself from the conference room and seeks the counsel of Edward Cullen in the office down the hall. I can hear their conversation but my recording equipment cannot so don't feel it ethical to make note of what was said. The following is a resumption of our interview)

Randall: I'm a board member of the Council.

**Lisa: **And how were you elected to the board?

Randall: We sent letters to everyone who was at the...hang on, I don't know if I can talk about the fight. Wait there, right?

(Again Mr Kade excuses himself and makes his way to Mr Cullen's office. Another discussion is had, punctuated by some rather loud expletives from Mr Cullen. The following is a resumption of our interview)

Randall: Right, sorry about that. I guess I shoulda checked with the boss man before we started. All good now though. Right, so, the council. We, the ones who thought we might like to make a Council, sent letters to everyone who was at the fight and asked them to nominate someone to be on the board. We kept aside the six that had the most votes. They sit on the board this time.

**Lisa: **What did you do before you became a member of this Council?

Randall: Ran around and ate people, obviously. (He laughs heartily and I can't help but do so too)

**Lisa: **No, I meant, what is it you did for a living, or what was it that kept you occupied in your leisure time before taking your position on the Council?

Randall: I told you, ran around and ate people. I'm a nomad. I don't collect things. I don't make nice houses and buy pretty shit to put in them. I own a duffel bag with my clothing in it and a cell phone. That's it. Oh, and before you ask, that's the way I like it. Or at least I did.

**Lisa: **I'll come back to that. How has your interaction with the Olympic Coven changed your life?

Randall: Well, in some pretty huge ways actually. I've met vamps from all over the world and I've had to knock a few of their blocks off lately too. That's a pretty big change wouldn't you say?

**Lisa: **I guess I would. Now, you say you _did_ like being a nomad. Does that mean you no longer wish to be one?

Randall: I don't know yet. Not for sure. But look around. This school and the set up here in Port Angeles and back there in Forks is pretty sweet. They've got it good here. A good life.

**Lisa: **And is this way of life something you aspire to?

Randall: I'd have to go vego, wouldn't I? (He laughs. This is a reference to the 'Vegetarian' lifestyle of the Cullen Coven and others like them)

**Lisa: **Is that something you think you are capable of?

Randall: Dunno. I guess with the right inspiration I could.

**Lisa: **What sort of inspiration?

Randall: Bella Cullen's pretty sweet.

(At this point the interview is suspended whilst Edward Cullen and Randall Kade take part in a heated discussion in the trees beyond the schools perimeter. Once again my hearing clearly hears their interactions but my recording equipment does not. Mr Kade returns to the conference room and our interview continues as follows)

Randall: Sorry about that. I shouldn't bait him but he bites so fucking well!

**Lisa: **You torment him for fun?

Randall: Yeah, pretty much. But he knows I'm kidding. I mean, he reads it outta ya head before you say it anyway, but he does love a good barney.

**Lisa: **Barney?

Randall: A fight. An argument.

**Lisa: **Oh, right. How do you handle being read by Mr Cullen?

Randall: (Laughing quite heartily) Mr Cullen? That'd be Carlisle wouldn't it? He's Eddie to me, even though I know he hates it. And it's not so bad being read. I've never got anything to hide so I don't care if he reads me.

**Lisa: **A fair point. Moving on. Is there anything you'd like to tell me about your early life, either before your change or after, that you'd like me to note?

Randall: Nothing specific I don't think. I had a pretty normal upbringing. You know, mum, dad, two and a half kids, nice house and shit. Nothing spectacular but I liked it.

**Lisa: **Would you like to talk about how you were changed, or why?

Randall: No, thanks. Move on.

**Lisa: **Alright. Your family?

Randall: My parents are both gone now and so is my brother. Last time I checked my sister was still alive, she was 76 then.

**Lisa: **You didn't keep contact with them after your change?

Randall: No way. I ran, as far as I could as fast as I could right away. I didn't want to be near them after. I wasn't safe. Hell, I'm still not.

**Lisa: **But you'd consider changing your diet for the right inspiration?

Randall: Yeah, I probably would. Like I said, what all the Cullen's have built here is a sweet set up. They've got nice things, ties to a community. Friends and some of them are even humans. Seems pretty sweet to me anyway.

**Lisa: **I believe your sire still resides in Australia? Why did you leave?

Randall: Yeah, he's still back there. I left because in the 50's the population there was small, well, smaller than it was here anyway. Jono had changed another three of us in pretty quick succession so there was a bit of fighting for territory and shit. I didn't like it. I didn't like the idea of hunting where I'd lived, amongst friends and acquaintances or whatever, so I hopped the first boat I could and came here.

**Lisa: **Can you explain for me your reasons for your participation in the recent conflagration here?

Randall: You mean the fight?

**Lisa: **Yes, the fight.

Randall: Well why don't you just say fight then? Conflagration. (He laughs) Sounds like something Eddie would say. Well, word got round that the Cullen's were in some trouble with the Romanians, so I thought I'd come to help.

**Lisa: **You had a problem with the way the Romanians saw things?

Randall: Nah. Never met em, didn't want to. But I knew about the Cullen's, through Pete and Charlotte, they're my coven mates I guess you can call them. They're good friends of Jasper and Alice' and when they told me that their family was being threatened I reckoned I'd better throw my lot in with them.

**Lisa: **So you came to fight even though you didn't know the Cullen's personally or the Romanians?

Randall: Yeah, sounds about right.

**Lisa: **Alright. My next question is have you ever sired?

Randall: What? Me? Make someone? Nah.

**Lisa: **Is there any reason for that?

Randall: Never met anyone I wanted to turn, I guess.

**Lisa: **Not even as a mate or companion?

Randall: Ah, well, see, that's complicated.

**Lisa: **I'll listen if you'd like to share.

Randall: Well, I have met someone but she's already one of us, so I guess I don't have to think about turning anyone.

**Lisa: **So you do have a mate now then?

Randall: No, nothing like that. I only just met her.

**Lisa: **Keep me posted. (I chuckle)

Randall: Will do. (He too chuckles)

**Lisa: **How do you feel, here in Port Angeles and its surrounds, with the shifters here?

Randall: At first it was a bit freaky. I mean, they're fucking huge when they phase, but they're good guys. Sam, that's their Alpha, he's great and they can fight like buggery so I don't mind them being around at all.

**Lisa: **Have you had much contact with them other than during the fight?

Randall: Yeah. The Cullen's party with them and they're pretty much around whenever the whole group comes together, so yeah.

**Lisa: **Can you describe how you see them fitting into the larger group?

Randall: Oh. Well, they're family. I mean, Seth is Nessa's imprint so he's part of Eddie's actual immediate family, but the others are in there too. They helped us knock off the Romanians too so that makes them family.

**Lisa: **I see. Alright. Okay, my last question for you is this. What do you want for your personal future Mr Kade?

Randall: The simple answer is I want what I see here. Roots. Love. A family. But there's no way Eddie's gonna let me within three feet of his woman so I'll have to...

Interview concludes there to allow Mr Kade and Mr Cullen to chase each other across the lawn and into the forest.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**Please review and I thank you for allowing me my little indulgence while I get back into the swing of all things Twivamp.**

**Maxi**

**xxx**


	31. Interviews with Vampires - Esme Cullen

I am meeting with Esme Cullen today in her office at EC College, Port Angeles, WA

I am quite familiar with the matriarch of the Olympic Coven having spent a few hours with her at her home in Forks discussing this interview process. I had not made her acquaintance prior to those meetings.

I am ushered into the small office, on the ground floor of the Administration block at EC College by Miss Collins, Edward Cullen's PA.

Esme Cullen rises to greet me and we make introductions across the table before sitting opposite one another with her very organised desk between us.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** I have a few standard questions and then we can talk more freely.

Esme: Go ahead, please.

**Lisa:** Please state your full name.

Esme: Esme Anne Platt Cullen, previously Evenson. (Her polite giggle is charming)

**Lisa:** We'll come back to your names shortly. Please state the year you were turned.

Esme: 1921

**Lisa:** And your age at your transformation?

Esme: Have the other ladies answered? (She laughs)

**Lisa:** You are the first of the ladies I've interviewed. (I laugh also) Edward was interested to learn if anyone would answer.

Esme: I guess I'm a bit of a ground breaker then. I was 26.

**Lisa:** Making your mortal birth 1895, correct?

Esme: Yes, that's right.

**Lisa:** And where you were born?

Esme: Columbus, Ohio.

**Lisa:** As you've already stated, you were previously Esme Evenson. Would you like to make any comment about that?

Esme: It's not a secret my dear. (Her girlish giggle belies her 117 years) I married young, it wasn't a happy match.

**Lisa:** And your sire is?

Esme: Carlisle Cullen

**Lisa:** Your husband, yes?

Esme: Husband, mate, best friend, soul mate. All of the above.

**Lisa:** Is it true you'd met the good doctor prior to your change?

Esme: Again, not a secret. And yes. He set my leg a dozen years before my change. Quite by chance I must stress.

**Lisa:** Why is it important to stress that?

Esme: Oh, well, our family has a history of imprinting. For myself and Carlisle that wasn't the case. Ours is just an ordinary love.

**Lisa:** I doubt that. None of the Cullen love stories are ordinary. (We both twitter but remain on topic) Could you tell me how you see yourself, what your place is within the Olympic Coven?

Esme: Oh well, I guess I am mate to Carlisle, mother to Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper and most recently mother and mother in law to Bella and now I'm grandmother to both Renesmee and Angel.

**Lisa:** And where does Seth fit? For you?

Esme: Hmm. I suppose for now I am a grandmother of sorts.

**Lisa:** And later? What do you see for later?

Esme: I'll be his grandmother in law, darling girl. It's inevitable.

**Lisa:** As he has imprinted on your granddaughter?

Esme: Oh yes. We are very pleased to have Seth as part of our family. He's such a lovely boy.

**Lisa:** Would you like to tell me something about your early life?

Esme: This one or when I was human?

**Lisa:** Either, or both.

Esme: Well, my human life was quite lovely. I grew up on a farm, like so many others did around that time. As I've said I made an unhappy match with a man that didn't end well and then I was changed and I started a whole new life. A much happier one.

**Lisa:** I know from our previous meeting that you don't wish to discuss the situation that brought about your change, but could you tell me something about your early life with Carlisle?

Esme: Thank you for remembering, dear. My early life, this new life, was wondrous but more than a little hard for me. Of course I had Carlisle to guide me but I also had Edward. I was so very lucky. They helped me adjust and taught me everything they could about what I was and how to live with it for myself.

**Lisa:** Did you come to this life easily then?

Esme: Certainly not. I don't think anyone does, with the exception of our Bella I think. I found it very difficult to be worthy of Carlisle's praise and his love at the beginning. My thirst was horrendous the first few years and it took me more than a little while to learn to curb it.

**Lisa:** Bella, as in Isabella Cullen?

Esme: Yes dear.

**Lisa:** She came over to this life easily you say?

Esme: I'm sure she'll tell you for herself. It really is her story to tell, dear. But I think so, yes. Perhaps easily is the wrong word to use though. To me at least she seemed to struggle far less than I did. Perhaps it was all in the preparation.

**Lisa:** I'll be sure to ask her about that when the time comes. Let's move on. Could you describe for me your position within the Council?

Esme: Edward has given you permission to ask about this?

**Lisa:** (I smile then. It seems that, so far, everyone I talk to defers to the Chairman of the Council before they are willing to answer) He was happy to speak to me about it himself and he gave Mr Kade the go ahead to do so too.

Esme: Alright then. Well, then, I am the secretary to the Council.

**Lisa:** You aren't a board member?

Esme: No, I wasn't nominated.

**Lisa:** Do you see yourself putting your name forward in the future for a seat?

Esme: Possibly. Who knows what the future holds, dear.

**Lisa:** Could you tell me a little about how you fill your time?

Esme: Well, for the longest time, before Bella and the baby came to us at least, I spent a lot of time in whatever home we resided in at the time. I like to decorate, you see. So I'd hunt down antiques, or furnishings and I'd paint and repaper or whatever was needed to make it a home for us.

**Lisa:** And now that your family has grown?

Esme: Well we have two babies with us now. Angel has only just come to us but I've had a bit longer to adjust to having a little with us in Renesmee. So now my days are filled with the children. The young ones anyway. The others don't tend to need me too much now. Although Bella does, still.

(At this point her focus shifts and I watch as she stares off to a corner of the room, lost in thought. I give her a moment then clear my throat softly)

Esme: Sorry dear. One does find oneself going off to ones thoughts quite often lately.

**Lisa:** I understand. It's been a very trying time for you all recently. You say your days are filled with the children? How so?

Esme: Renesmee eats as a human does so there is always a meal to be prepared for when she is visiting or staying in the big house with us. And then there is Seth who eats more than heartily. (She laughs) And there are always chores to be done. Of course now that Bella is with us we have her parents quite close and I do spend some time with her mother and with some of the women from the Reservation. I am never bored. (She laughs again)

**Lisa:** The big house? Could you describe why it's called that, for those of us who don't know?

Esme: Oh it's very simple. It's big. (She giggles) And it needs to be. Quite often all ten of us are there at once, so things are never dull, especially with the two little girls in the house. But we do have a lot of visitors who come and go. When the Pack is with us we number roughly twenty or so depending on who's come to see us, and if they bring their wives and girlfriends things tend to get rather boisterous.

**Lisa:** And the Pack often spends time there with you all?

Esme: Oh yes dear. They're family.

**Lisa:** Two of your children live in homes of their own now?

Esme: Yes, they do, or they will. Our Emmett is currently building a home for his family out in the woods, to the back of the main property and of course our Edward and his family live in the cottage to the south of the property.

**Lisa:** Your Coven seems a very placid group. Can you tell me your thoughts on having to fight for it recently?

Esme: We are a very placid group, normally. But our last few years have been marred by the need to fight for the family, yes. Our most recent problem, for want of a better word, was unavoidable in my opinion. When innocent children are threatened you fight. Anyone would. Human, shifter, vampire. There was no choice to make. That's all I'd like to say about that, thank you.

**Lisa:** As you wish. We'll move on. Will you play a role in the school here?

Esme: Not really, no.

**Lisa:** Isn't it true that once, when you were human, you posed as a school teacher yourself?

Esme: That is true, dear. When I was a young girl I thought I might like to be a teacher, yes. But I never got the chance, not legally anyway. (Another adorable giggle) And since my change I never again had the opportunity. I could teach here, if I wanted to, I'm sure. But I do spend hours with my granddaughter teaching her and I'm content with that.

**Lisa:** This is my final question for you today. What do you hope is in your future Mrs Cullen?

Esme: It would be silly to wish for more grandchildren, (She giggles) but I do. But I am more than happy with the two I have now, that I never thought I'd ever have, so I am content. I think I'd like to see this school do well and for all my children, and theirs, go on to lead happy, productive lives.

At the conclusion of the interview Mrs Cullen invited me back to her home and I gladly accepted.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**Please review. **

**Maxi**

**xx**


	32. Interviews with Vampires - Seth Clearwat

A note of thanks to the Quileute Pack, in particular Sam Uley the packs Alpha, for permission to record this interview with Seth Clearwater.

The interview was conducted inside a Science Lab at EC College, Port Angeles, WA.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** Thank you for agreeing to speak with me today Seth. I'll start with a few standard questions that I've asked everyone and then we'll move on to some more individual ones. Could you please state your full name please?

Seth: Seth Clearwater

**Lisa:** The age you were at your transformation?

Seth: (Laughing) We don't get transformed ma'am, we get the fever. That was when I was 15.

**Lisa:** We meaning?

Seth: Shifters. Wolves anyway.

**Lisa:** Are you saying there are other shifters that aren't wolves?

Seth: Nope, not saying that.

**Lisa:** Alright, could you describe the fever process?

Seth: Sure. Um, if there are vampires in the area some of us get a fever and we start being able to shift to and from wolf form at will.

**Lisa:** And if there are no vampires in the area?

Seth: Then the fever is dormant.

**Lisa:** Is this the first time that the fever has taken over the boys in your pack?

Seth: Not just boys, and no, but I wasn't even born the last time it happened.

**Lisa:** There are female wolves?

Seth: My sister's one. So yeah.

**Lisa:** I see. Do you think she'd agree to speak with me?

Seth: You'd have to ask her.

**Lisa:** You say you weren't born the last time this occurred. Does your pack keep histories about this? Did you learn anything from them to help when this began happening this time?

Seth: The pack doesn't keep records but the tribunal does. That's three older members of our tribe who keep the records and sort of keep us in line. And yeah, the stories they told us helped us when the Cullen's moved back into the area. Didn't go so well at first, but now it's great.

**Lisa:** We'll talk some more about what happened that first year the Cullen's moved here a little later. But for now can you tell me where you were born?

Seth: Right here. On the Rez. Ah, that's La Push Reservation.

**Lisa:** And your mate is?

Seth: Nessa Cullen

**Lisa:** And you imprinted on her at the time of her birth, correct?

Seth: Yeah.

**Lisa:** Is that common for shape shifters?

Seth: Yeah, it is. The older guys in the pack have all done it. Sam, Paul, Quil, Embry and even my sister.

**Lisa:** They've all imprinted on infants?

Seth: No. They've all imprinted.

**Lisa:** So you're the first to imprint on a baby then?

Seth: So far as I know, yeah. But I haven't asked either.

**Lisa:** Has a pack member ever imprinted on a vampire before?

Seth: No. But Nessa's not full vampire.

**Lisa:** No, she isn't. Do you think that's the reason this has happened for you? Her 'difference'?

Seth: Dunno, don't care. (He laughs)

**Lisa:** Fair enough. Can you describe your place within your pack?

Seth: For now I'm just one of the guys. But Sam is working with me so that once I'm of age I can be his Beta. (He says this proudly)

**Lisa:** Can you describe, in your own words, where you fit with the Cullen coven?

Seth: (At this point he raises a hand to the scruff of his neck and rubs back and forth while he thinks) I think I just fit there. I mean, I'm not related to any of them at all, but none of them are actually related to each other either and it works anyway. I guess we're a family. When I'm with them I'm Edward and Bella's son and the others are all uncles and aunts and stuff.

**Lisa:** How have your family, and your pack, felt about this?

Seth: My parents have been great. They like the Cullen's and Edward and Bella talk with them all the time about how I'm going and about school and stuff. The pack's been great. I mean, at first it was weird, me being with the Cullen's more than I'm with my own pack, but they've accepted it and I've kept my place in the pack.

**Lisa:** How does your pack fit within the larger group of vampires here?

Seth: Family. It's a big family. They treat us like their own and we treat them like pack members.

**Lisa:** Like pack members? How so?

Seth: (Again rubbing the back of his neck and he thinks on it) I guess the hierarchy inside the pack stays the same but it sort of opens up, gets bigger, to include Edward and Carlisle when we meet as a group.

**Lisa:** Carlisle and Edward specifically? Not the others?

Seth: The others too, yeah, but they are treated more like the rest of us 'usual' wolves I guess. But Carlisle and Edward are different. Sam is always the Alpha, nothing can change that unless he steps down – which he won't ever do – but I suppose Carlisle and Edward slot in just under him with the pack.

**Lisa:** Do you mean that Sam defers to them for things like pack and coven security and the protection of the younger wolves and the two children in the coven?

Seth: Yeah, that's exactly right. Like when we had to fight Victoria and Laurent and James and when we had the big fight. Sam stays Alpha but Edward and Carlisle work with him to make sure that everyone's safe.

**Lisa: ** That makes sense. We'll come back to that again too, a little later. Would you like to tell me something of your early life?

Seth: (He shrugs) Not a lot to tell. I lived and went to school on the Rez just like everyone else.

**Lisa:** But you didn't attend the Reservation school for all of your schooling, did you?

Seth: (He scowls at me before answering) No. I didn't. Jake sent me to Forks High to spy on Edward and Bella at first.

**Lisa:** That's how you came to meet the Cullen's isn't it? At Forks High?

Seth: Yeah. But Bella wasn't a Cullen then.

**Lisa:** Would you like to tell me anything about how your relationship with the coven evolved?

Seth: Not really. Jake was wrong. The Cullen's accepted me as a friend after that. Nothing more to say.

**Lisa:** Alright, let's move on. Will you continue at Forks High or will you be coming here? (Meaning EC College)

Seth: (He scowls) I'm staying at Forks High.

**Lisa:** And what are you working towards?

Seth: I'm doing just a regular High School Diploma but I'm hoping to get into first year Med School next year.

**Lisa:** Medical school? You want to become a doctor, like Carlisle?

Seth: Yeah. Edward too though. He's a doctor too. But I want to go into paediatrics.

**Lisa:** You say Edward is a doctor too?

Seth: Yeah. But he doesn't practise anywhere. He looks so young I guess.

**Lisa:** And you, will you have problems being a doctor if you don't age, don't change?

Seth: I don't know yet. I guess we'll see.

**Lisa:** Moving on. The Cullen's, they're helping you achieve your goals?

Seth: Yeah. They are. They're all real smart, at different things though. I've learnt a lot from them, all of them.

**Lisa:** I'm sure you have. Was there ever a time when you were frightened by them?

Seth: A little, at the very beginning, before I really knew them. But not now.

**Lisa:** What frightened you? Specifically.

Seth: I was taught that they were our natural enemies. The Pack came about to protect the Rez from them. It was natural to be frightened of them.

**Lisa:** To hate them?

Seth: No. The only member of the pack who hated them was Jake.

**Lisa:** Is it true that Jake, your previous Alpha, was killed in a fight with the Cullen's?

(At this point Mr Clearwater excuses himself from the interview and makes his way across the grounds to Edward Cullen's office. I can hear their conversation clearly, but my recording equipment cannot. I do not believe that I can share what was said. Our interview resumes after 74 minutes.)

Seth: (Upon re-entering the Lab) Um, sorry I left. (He scrubs at the scruff of his neck as he retakes his seat) I just wanted to talk to Edward for a bit before I answered your question. Can you ask it again please?

**Lisa:** Sure. But remember, you don't have to answer anything you aren't comfortable with. (I recall trying – during the interview and now as I transcribe it - to remember that this boy is still very young) I'll ask again but you don't have to answer, alright? (He nods but makes no audible sound) Is it true that Jake, your previous Alpha, was killed in a fight with the Cullen's?

Seth: It's true that Jake died in a fight, yeah. But not with the Cullen's. With one Cullen. Edward.

**Lisa:** I see. Were you present at this fight?

Seth: Yes.

**Lisa:** Was the rest of your pack present at this fight?

Seth: I can't answer that.

**Lisa:** Alright. Were you directly involved in the fight yourself?

Seth: (thinking a few seconds before answering) I guess so, yeah. I got stuck in the middle, trying to protect Bella.

**Lisa:** Were you hurt?

Seth: No.

**Lisa:** But Bella was?

Seth: Yeah. Real bad. She had to be changed then. (He hangs his head sadly as he tells me this)

**Lisa:** Does that make you sad? That she had to be changed?

Seth: It did at first. Like, before I knew the Cullen's real well. But after, after it was done, I was glad then. Glad that Bella was strong and glad that her and Edward got to be together always.

**Lisa:** Alright. Is there anything else you can tell me about what happened that day?

Seth: It's not a secret or anything. And Edward said I can tell you whatever I want about it. But I don't like remembering it.

**Lisa:** I understand. Anything you want to say I'll record.

Seth: Um, I guess I just want to say that Jake was wrong. He wanted Bella even though she'd already chosen Edward. There was a fight, Bella got hurt real bad, and Jake died in the fight. That's all I want to say on that.

**Lisa:** Okay. Thank you for sharing that. Can we talk a little bit about the problems you had with the rogue vampires Victoria, Laurent and James?

Seth: I suppose so. Not a lot to tell though.

**Lisa:** That too ended in a fight, didn't it?

Seth: Yeah. It did.

**Lisa:** And you were present at this fight too, is that right?

Seth: Yeah. I was.

**Lisa:** What would you say were the reasons so much violence has surrounded the Cullen Coven since moving here?

(At this point he shivers from head to toe and gets to his feet. He begins pacing the length of the room as he sucks in gulps of air. He does not resume his seat as he begins speaking again)

Seth: Violence doesn't surround the Cullen coven! (He shouts) There are just a shitload of bastards out there in the world. That's all. Jake wanted Bella, at any cost, and paid with his fucking life! Those rogues wanted Edward and Bella's baby, at any cost, and paid with their fucking lives too! We've just fought in the clearing because other bad people wanted to kill me for imprinting on Nessa. The Cullen's didn't do anything wrong. They never have. They just want to live here and have a happy life like everyone else should want. They didn't do anything wrong! You can't say they did. You weren't here. You don't know. Don't you dare print that they ever did anything wrong. I'll fucking kill anyone who ever says they did...

(Edward Cullen arrives at the Lab and I excuse myself while he speaks with Mr Clearwater. The interview is suspended and rescheduled for the same time the following day.)

The following is a transcription of the conversation held between myself and Edward Cullen during the evening between the two halves of the interview with Seth Clearwater.

**Lisa:** I'm sorry I upset Seth. That was never my intention.

Edward: Noted. Look, he's young and he's just had to fight for his life and my daughter's life. He's seen a lot of shit that nobody should ever have had to see and it's still very raw for him. I heard what you asked and I understand the thought processes you went through before you asked it (this is a reference to Edward Cullen's ability to read my thoughts) and I know there was no malice intended. However, I'll ask you to temper your questions during the next interview with my boy.

**Lisa:** Of course. I have made some notes about further questions, if you'd care to read over them before I ask? Perhaps that might prevent him becoming upset?

Edward: (Waving his hand) No need. I've spoken to him and he's fine with continuing as planned. He's asked that I attend. Not to monitor your conduct, please don't think that. But because he struggles with his temper at the moment. Do you agree to those terms?

**Lisa:** Of course I can agree to that.

Interview resumed in the Science Lab at EC College, Port Angeles, WA., between myself and Seth Clearwater. Edward Cullen in attendance.

Seth: Sorry about yesterday. Edward said I should tell you the truth. I get angry and upset when I think about the fighting. I had to kill people to protect myself and my friends and family and I'm still having trouble coming to terms with that. Edward says that's okay and that it's alright to feel sick over it still. I'm sorry I couldn't continue yesterday. I don't like thinking about the fight and I don't like thinking about my family being in danger.

**Lisa:** Thank you Seth. I appreciate all that and I apologise for the way I worded my last question yesterday. In no way did I want it to seem as though the Cullen's had brought any of this on themselves.

Seth: Okay. Want to just forget that bit and move on?

**Lisa:** Of course. Can we talk about your role in the recent fight?

Seth: I guess so. (He sounds reluctant)

**Lisa:** You can tell me as little or as much as you want, Seth. Can you describe what you were asked to do?

Seth: (Looking toward Edward Cullen momentarily) I was asked to get Nessa away from the fight if I could.

**Lisa:** But you couldn't, is that right?

Seth: Yeah. Well, not till right at the end anyway.

**Lisa:** Up until you did leave with her, what did you do?

Seth: What I was asked to do. I presented myself to the Romanians and then when that was over I went back to formation and stood in front of Nessa and Bella.

**Lisa:** And then, when you did get the chance to leave with Renesmee where did you go?

Seth: To the Rez.

**Lisa:** But you were followed, is that correct?

Seth: (Accompanied by a soft growl from Edward Cullen) Yeah, Santiago followed me there.

**Lisa:** What happened?

Seth: (He takes a long moment to think on it then begins to shake his head) I did what I had to do. That's all I want to say.

**Lisa:** Understood. Okay, let's move on to something lighter. Let's talk about your imprint?

Seth: (Smiling widely) Sure. She's brilliant.

**Lisa:** She surely is. What would you like to tell me about her?

Seth: (With a look towards Edward) Um, I guess, just that she's amazing. She's really smart and funny and I'm real proud of her.

**Lisa:** Proud of her?

Seth: Yeah. She's had a lot to deal with, and she's still real little, but she's real brave too.

**Lisa:** Alright. Could you describe her gifts for me?

Seth: (Accompanied by a soft growl from Edward Cullen) If she wants you to know what she can do she'll tell you herself.

**Lisa:** Alright. Moving on. Where does she attend school?

Seth: If her parents want you to know they'll tell you.

**Lisa:** Alright. Does she have human friends?

Seth: If her parents want you to know they'll tell you.

**Lisa:** Okay, where does she fit with your pack?

Seth: Beside me.

**Lisa:** How so?

Seth: Well, she's my mate. Just like all the other girlfriends and wives, boyfriends too (he sniggers) she fits beside me.

**Lisa:** So your pack has accepted her as part of you? Is that what you mean?

Seth: (Smiling widely) Yep, that's what I mean.

**Lisa:** Does she spend time with you on the Reservation?

Seth: Of course she does. We go there all the time.

**Lisa:** Can you tell me a little about your time there?

Seth: Sure. We visit my parents and the houses of the other pack members. She plays with their kids. We go to cook outs and sit round the bonfire and she learns all about the tribe and our history with me.

**Lisa:** Okay. Now, there is another new member of the Cullen coven, correct?

Seth: (With a look toward Edward Cullen before answering) Yes, Angel.

**Lisa:** Being small, and a hybrid, like Renesmee, do you spend a lot of time with her?

Seth: Some. She's still a tiny baby right now, but she'll grow real fast like Nessa did and I'm pretty sure we'll all hang. (He laughs)

**Lisa:** You aren't bothered by spending all your time with children then?

Seth: (Laughing) Nah. I'm a kid still too anyway. Besides, I'm getting real good at doing dolls hair.

**Lisa:** You play dolls?

Seth: Sure, why not? It makes Nessa happy.

**Lisa:** Will you let her do your hair and makeup? (I laugh, jokingly)

Seth: She already does! (His laugh is charming) (Edward Cullen laughs along heartily)

**Lisa:** Is there anything further you'd like to add before we conclude this interview?

Seth: Not really.

**Lisa:** Alright. Last question. What do you hope for your future, Seth?

Seth: That's an easy one. Me, Nessa, the pack and the Cullen's all safe and well.

At the conclusion of the interview Seth goes to Edward Cullen and they shake hands as Edward claps Seth soundly on the back.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**I really enjoyed 'talking' with Seth. I'm sorry Edward, but I have such a crush on Seth :)**

**Please review. **


	33. Interviews with Vampires - Zafrina

The following interview with Zafrina was conducted via telephone. I did not have a chance to meet, in person, with the interviewee during her most recent visit to Washington. She was reluctant to travel again so soon.

This interview was recorded using technology supplied by Jasper Whitlock and transcribed using conventional means.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

No license has been taken with regard to the fractured English of the interviewee. Her responses are transcribed as told.

**Lisa:** Please state your full name?

Zafrina: Zafrina

**Lisa:** No surname?

Zafrina: And I need this why, child?

**Lisa:** Noted. (There is humour in the other woman's voice but I cannot be completely sure she is joking) The year you were turned?

Zafrina: The year the river ran red.

**Lisa:** Is there a chronological date for that?

Zafrina: Chronological? What is this? You want an Anglo date? I know not what. No.

**Lisa:** You are unsure?

Zafrina: I was there; I remember it well, but the date unimportant.

**Lisa:** Your age at transformation?

Zafrina: Unimportant.

**Lisa:** And your sire is?

Zafrina: A stain on the earth.

**Lisa:** You don't know him, or her?

Zafrina: I woke to immeasurable suffering, he, or she, was quite right to flee.

**Lisa:** I am led to believe you have no mate?

Zafrina: True.

**Lisa:** And your place, however you'd like to define it, within your coven?

Zafrina: I am Zafrina, maker of Senna and Kachiri, head of the Amazons.

**Lisa:** Would you like to tell me something of your early life?

Zafrina: I was the first born daughter of a Warrior Chief and was treated as the Queen I was to become. Many offerings were brought to me. I was to marry the son of a local Chief. I was to have many fine sons.

**Lisa:** But you were changed before that could happen?

Zafrina: I was torn from my family and turned into this, yes.

**Lisa:** And your family?

Zafrina: Live on, still. Though many Chiefs have come since. They number many, still hunt in the same area, live well and free.

**Lisa:** Do not consider yourself free?

Zafrina: Edward, he make me free.

**Lisa:** Ahh, yes. Some of the others have told me they believe that also. That the fight had recently made you free.

Zafrina: In my homeland I am free. Free to hunt. Free to make choices. Romanians not want to let dear ones choose path. Zafrina fight.

**Lisa:** And it was Edward that convinced you to fight?

Zafrina: No, my god tells me to do right. Edward has dear ones. Young ones who do nothing wrong. But Edward, he a very good man. He strong and willing. Zafrina willing.

**Lisa:** Would you tell me a little about how you fill your time?

Zafrina: Fill my time?

**Lisa:** Yes. What you do with your life.

Zafrina: I protect my children. I hunt. I stay close to my god.

**Lisa:** Had you stayed human what path would your life have taken?

Zafrina: I would have been Queen. My tribe would have fought for me, our land, and our hunting grounds. No matter. I am still Queen. (Her laugh is deep, throaty) But now I am not afraid.

**Lisa:** Facing the Romanians you weren't afraid?

Zafrina: Afraid of men who let others die for them? Zafrina not afraid of such men. Afraid of sunlight, afraid for dear ones, afraid of the god's wrath. Not cowards.

**Lisa:** Would you describe the role you played in the fight?

Zafrina: I protect the dear ones.

**Lisa:** That would be Renesmee?

Zafrina: And Edward's precious Bella.

**Lisa:** Is it true you taught Bella to use her shield?

Zafrina: She a very fast learner. Her shield inside her, she could feel it but not use it.

**Lisa:** And she can use it now?

Zafrina: She can. She does.

**Lisa:** Can you describe how she uses it?

Zafrina: I am not a shield myself so I have no such thinking.

**Lisa:** Alright, is it true you taught Renesmee to project images?

Zafrina: I did. Though she always had it inside her, like her mother's shield, she just needed Zafrina to help her learn to use it. She is very fast learner too. A good, clever girl.

**Lisa:** You had lessons with her before the fight, right?

Zafrina: I did. Each day when the others went for fight lessons I took the dear one for lessons with her gift.

**Lisa:** You didn't feel the need to attend fight lessons yourself?

Zafrina: What for? My gift lets me stand, make you stop. No fighting needed.

**Lisa:** How would you describe your own gift?

Zafrina: I make pictures and put them into your brain so you can see them too.

**Lisa:** That sounds innocuous but I've been told that you used this gift to great effect to thwart Jane.

Zafrina: What is this innocuous?

**Lisa:** Um, innocuous means harmless, innocent.

Zafrina: (She laughs long and deeply) Zafrina's gift can be this innocuous yes. But Jane not think so that day, no.

**Lisa:** Can you tell me what you showed Jane?

Zafrina: (There is a quiet pause before she answers here) I showed Jane what Zafrina believes to be her greatest fear. Her dear one, Alec, falling by another's hand.

**Lisa:** And this allowed the others to thwart Jane?

Zafrina: Thwart?

**Lisa:** Ah, put a stop to.

Zafrina: Oh yes. Put a stop to, yes. They kill her.

**Lisa:** But you can also show someone something lovely or soothing too, can't you?

Zafrina: Zafrina can choose what to make you see. Sometimes lovely calm water, sometimes frightening animal, sometimes both.

**Lisa:** Is there anyone on whom you cannot project?

Zafrina: Bella can choose not to see, her dear little one also. Other shields perhaps.

**Lisa:** What do you think you'll do now that the fight has been won?

Zafrina: I have returned to my own lands. I will return for the celebrations for Angel.

**Lisa:** My final question for you is what do you hope for your future?

Zafrina: I hope the dear ones grow and are happy. I hope to visit for more celebrations. I hope the hunting is plentiful and that the gods smile down on my coven.

Interview concludes with Zafrina blessing me personally.

* * *

**A/N: It's wrong for Zaffy to scare the shit out of me, right?**

**Seeing as she's not real, and it's me who's made her this fierce? lol**

**Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. I sure did. **

**Please review. **


	34. Interviews with Vampires - Alice Cullen

The following interview with Alice Whitlock Cullen was conducted inside her classroom at EC College, Port Angeles, WA.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** I have a few standard questions and then we can get onto a few more personalised ones. Please state your full name.

Alice: Oh, I hate my real name. (She giggles) Mary Alice Brandon Whitlock Cullen. But I'm just Alice.

**Lisa:** Okay, just Alice. Please state the year you were turned.

Alice: 1920

**Lisa:** And your age at your transformation?

Alice: I suppose the others have said? (She giggles)

**Lisa:** They have, so far.

Alice: Oh, alright then. I was 19.

**Lisa:** That makes your mortal birth 1901, correct?

Alice: Yep, a turn of the century baby.

**Lisa:** And where were you born?

Alice: Biloxi, Mississippi.

**Lisa:** And your sire is?

Alice: Unknown.

**Lisa:** And your mate is?

Alice: Jasper Whitlock.

**Lisa:** What would you like to share about your life prior to being turned?

Alice: I don't know much and all that I do know came from newspaper articles so I'm not sure how reliable they were back then.

**Lisa:** As little or as much as you like.

Alice: I know my parents names and I know that I had a sister and she was still alive last time I checked. I only know what my father did for a living – he was a jeweller and my mom stayed home to look after us kids – because that was listed on their death notices in the newspaper. Other than that I don't know much about them. And all I know about me is that I was institutionalised because of my gift and that I was turned there.

**Lisa:** We'll come back to your gift shortly. Have you had any contact with your sister?

Alice: No.

**Lisa:** Is there a specific reason for that?

Alice: I didn't want her to have to be a part of this life.

**Lisa:** Can you describe for me, as best you can, where you fit in your coven?

Alice: Sure. Jaz and I are mates, as I said, and we live with the coven. I'm sister to Rose, Bella, Emmett and Edward and Aunty to both Nessa and Angel.

**Lisa:** And Carlisle and Esme Cullen? Where do you fit with them?

Alice: (Laughing) Carlisle loves it when I call him dad and Esme loves it when I let her mother me. But in all seriousness they are the closest thing I've got to parents.

**Lisa:** We've already established that you don't remember your parents, and that is true for most of us after a time, but did you remember for a while after your change?

Alice: No. I woke knowing nothing of them.

**Lisa:** Nothing at all?

Alice: Nothing at all. It's as if my memories began the day I was changed.

**Lisa:** Alright. Perhaps in lieu of telling me about your early life you'd like to tell me how you came to meet your mate?

Alice: Ah, well, now that's a good one. I saw him. I waited for him.

**Lisa:** I don't understand. You say you 'saw' him. Do you mean you saw him on the street one day and you waited until he was ready to meet you? Was he involved with someone else at the time?

Alice: (giggling) No. Might be easier if we go back and you ask me about my gift. Then you'll get it.

**Lisa:** (turning my pad back to the first page) Alright. Would you please explain how your gift works?

Alice: Good question. (She laughs) I see glimpses of the future.

**Lisa:** Like a fortune teller?

Alice: (Laughing) No, although I do own a very nice Ouija board.

**Lisa:** Really?

Alice: Really. Bella's mom gave it to me for Christmas. But I'm not really a fortune teller. I guess the easiest way to describe it is that I see pieces of your future.

**Lisa:** How do these pieces come to you?

Alice: Edward calls them visions.

**Lisa:** You don't?

Alice: Not really. It's like small parts to rolling films in my mind's eye. Hard to explain, sorry.

**Lisa:** That's alright. So, these pieces, they aren't whole stories? They're glimpses?

Alice: Yep. That's right. But they aren't true. Not when I see them anyway. They might come true, though, later. No, that's not right either. This is hard. (She laughs) I don't mean true as in the truth, they are always the truth, but they can be influenced.

**Lisa:** That's very confusing. How can they be influenced?

Alice: I guess I see outcomes rather than futures. If you decided to attack me I'd see me defending myself. I could prepare then. But, if you decided not to attack me I'd see that too and your future, and mine, would change accordingly.

**Lisa:** Alright, that makes sense. So the decisions others make determine what you see?

Alice: Right. You get it. The wolves are so dumb. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** The wolves don't understand?

Alice: They do, now. Now that they've seen how it works for themselves.

**Lisa:** Could you give an example?

Alice: Alright. Well. When we had to protect Bella and the baby from Laurent, James and Victoria I looked for decisions being made so that they could help pinpoint where the baby was being hidden.

**Lisa:** And that helped the pack track her?

Alice: Yep. Edward too. Once I could see James' decisions I knew where to send everyone so they could retrieve her.

**Lisa:** Impressive.

Alice: Thanks. (At this point she folds her hands into her lap primly and smiles wide)

**Lisa:** Okay. So, you saw Jasper in your mind's eye. Tell me how your actual meeting came about then.

Alice: Well, like I said, I saw him and then I saw that we were to be mates so I just waited for him.

**Lisa:** As in just sat still while you waited? How long did you wait?

Alice: No, not like just sitting still. I can sometimes see glimpses of time frames. I mean, a clock or a calendar doesn't magically appear, but I get clues from the visions I see. The weather maybe, fashions help a lot, so does popular music of the age and the cars people drive, things like that. So, I could see that it would be high summer when we met and when I had the first vision it was mid winter, so I knew I had a bit of a wait on my hands. I also knew where we'd meet, so I simply travelled there and waited him out.

**Lisa:** And then what?

Alice: Like I said, I waited. I was sitting on a high stool, like a barstool I suppose, in the vision, inside a diner in Philly so I went there and waited until the weather was right and all the other pieces lined up. And then there he was. He came right to me.

**Lisa:** Do you mean that you imprinted on him, or he imprinted on you?

Alice: I don't think so, no. Maybe. Who knows? I already knew he was who I had been waiting for and I guess he knew the same of me when he first saw me.

**Lisa:** That's very romantic.

Alice: Isn't it? (She grins and nods)

**Lisa:** Is that when the two of you came to join the Cullen's?

Alice: Oh no. That was a while after. We travelled for a while. Jaz had some nomadic friends so we went around with them for a while but I was a vegetarian you see, and they weren't.

**Lisa:** Jasper either?

Alice: No. Not back then.

**Lisa:** How did he come to be a vegetarian for himself then?

Alice: That's his story to tell.

**Lisa:** Ok. Moving on. How did you come to meet the Cullen's, as they were then?

Alice: That was 1950, for your notes. Jaz and I had been wandering around for quite a while before I finally found them, but I'd seen them long before that. The clues were hard to interpret but I got good and close a few times. (She giggles)

**Lisa:** Good and close?

Alice: Yeah. Jaz and I got to their houses just a few days after they'd left or I'd find the right hospital but Carlisle had already moved on or I'd have the wrong house but the right timing. That sort of thing. But I found them eventually.

**Lisa:** What was that first meeting like?

Alice: (giggling) It was interesting. They had no idea we were coming, of course. Carlisle was worried, at first, but once he learned we wanted to stay, and that we didn't hunt humans either, I think he was pretty pleased.

**Lisa:** Can you tell me a little bit about how you fill your time?

Alice: With the usual things, I think. I'm pretty normal, despite what my horrid brothers will tell you. (She laughs) I like clothes and I love shopping. I guess I'm pretty human that way. (She pauses and tilts her head to her right shoulder, a rigid set to her lips before straightening and continuing) You'd be better off with the scarlet blouse, but the grey is nice too. Let me know when you want to go back for it, I'll come too, we'll make a day of it. Oh, but not Monday, it'll be sunny. (She smirks)

**Lisa:** How did you...

Alice: I see things, remember? (She taps her temple as she laughs) I guess that's the best example of my gift, right there. You just decided that you _would _go back to that boutique in Seattle for the blouse you liked so much. I saw you trying on both colours.

**Lisa:** (I laugh then) Well, we won't go Monday.

Alice: Nope, Mondays out. I'm free Thursday if you're in?

**Lisa:** Done. Now, back to what you like to do with your time?

Alice: Oh, right. Well, I'm going to teach here so that's going to eat up a bit of it but there are always hours and hours to fill in. I love spending time with the children and Jaz and I steal away as often as we can. But mostly I hang around at the big house with the others.

**Lisa:** What will you be teaching here? (EC College)

Alice: Design mostly but a little bit of fashion and colour as well as some interior design. But that's usually Esme's domain.

**Lisa:** Is it true that you shop for the whole coven?

Alice: Yep. If left to their own devices they'd look like hobos. (She huffs affectionately) Especially Bella. (She adds with a wag of her finger)

**Lisa:** Do you shop for the wolves too then?

Alice: Oh no. Although I do for Seth, so I guess maybe I do, in a way.

**Lisa:** Is it true that you can't see the wolves?

Alice: Wow, just come right out and ask. (She laughs and I fear I've offended her, coming at the question abruptly) Yes, it's true. My gift doesn't work when they're around, so it's not just that I can't see them, I can't see anyone when they're around. It's very frustrating.

**Lisa:** Did it hinder how the recent fight was planned?

Alice: (She cocks her head to the side and I wonder if she's 'seeing' something or sending out a mental message to her brother, Edward Cullen, who is in his office across the way. Others have alluded to the connection the brother and sister have, and their abilities combining to allow them to communicate silently) (She smiles before answering, leaving me unsure which side of the coin I've just witnessed. Her 'seeing' or him 'reading' her and then she 'sees' his answer) Yes. It made it hard to plan how the fight should go.

(The answer seems far too simple, and given far too quickly, but I move on)

**Lisa:** Okay, let's go back a little earlier still. The incident that led to Isabella being changed. How was your gift used then?

Alice: (She grimaces) it wasn't. And that's the problem. I couldn't see with the wolves facing us and I couldn't see Bella at all until it was too late. And even then I didn't see her, I saw Seth.

**Lisa:** But, Seth's a wolf?

Alice: But he wasn't back then. He didn't start to change until Bella did.

**Lisa:** I see. Has the arrival of so many new vampire acquaintances been difficult for you?

Alice: A little, yes. But now that I know so many of them so well it's easier.

**Lisa:** Can you see them all?

Alice: If I look I can.

**Lisa:** Do you look?

Alice: For some of them, sure. Others just pop into my mind now and then.

**Lisa:** It must be impossible to surprise you. (I laugh)

Alice: It has been done, but only with the strategic help of the wolves. (She giggles)

**Lisa:** Alright. One last question. What do you hope your future holds? Or do you already know?

Alice: I do know, but things can always change. (She laughs) I guess I want what everyone wants. A long and happy life with my family.

Interview concludes.

The interviewer wishes to thank Alice Cullen for her shopping assistance.

* * *

**A/N: I had forgotten what a complicated person Alice is at heart. **

**She's fun and loving but she is also incredibly complex. I must make more of an effort to show that when I begin writing Evolution again proper. **

**Thank you for reading. **

**And thank you all for the good wishes. **

**Please review. **


	35. Interviews with Vampires - Felicity

**Please note: This interview was conducted _before_ Felicity knew what the Cullen's truly were. She suspects that they are 'other' – as Edward has described it prior – but doesn't know what that 'other' is exactly.**

**I toyed with making this an interview after her change but in the end it was more fun to write from her point of view while she still just 'suspects', rather than 'knows'.**

**I wanted to portray how grateful Flick is to have been given this opportunity by Edward, but didn't want to make it seem as though she was 'lusting' after him as so many girls do. Her admiration for him is genuine, as is her gratitude. I wanted her to come across as loyal, rather than gushing. **

**I'm not at all convinced I've pulled that off.**

**Thank you for indulging me, again.**

* * *

This interview is conducted with Miss Felicity (surname withheld upon request), Admissions Manager, EC College, Port Angeles, WA.

The interview is carried out in the office of the above mentioned.

At the request of Edward Cullen, Chairman of the Vampire Council, certain facts have been withheld from the interviewee. It is not the claim of the interviewer, nor is it the right of the interviewer, to correct any assumptions made in the context of this interview.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** I have a few standard questions and then we'll move on to some more personal questions at the end. Can you state your name please?

Flick: Felicity.

**Lisa:** And your position here please?

Flick: I'm the Admissions Manager.

**Lisa:** At?

Flick: Oh, right, sorry. For EC College.

**Lisa:** And please state your age and where you were born please.

Flick: I'm 21 and I was born in Forks, Washington.

**Lisa:** You attended Forks High School then?

Flick: Yes, up until Junior. I didn't do senior.

**Lisa:** Alright. Did you leave school for something specific?

Flick: Um, I wasn't exactly a good student so I didn't see the point going any further. I wasn't dumb, just lazy.

**Lisa:** And your previous employment history?

Flick: I worked at Forks Real Estate since leaving school and then Mr Cullen offered me this job.

**Lisa:** Had you met Mr Cullen prior to the job offer?

Flick: Yes. He and Mrs Cullen used our office to buy the land for this place and before that Mrs Cullen leased a flat in town from us. Oops, I don't know if I should've said that.

**Lisa:** I'm sure it's fine. And, it's a matter of public record. What made you take the job here after having been at your former job for quite some time?

Flick: I guess I just wanted more out of my job. I wasn't going anywhere at the Estate Agency and it wasn't like Mr Nugent – that was my boss at the agency – was going to ever train me to be anything other than a receptionist. So when Mr Cullen offered me this I jumped at it. I mean, who wouldn't?

**Lisa:** So it was an attractive package then?

Flick: I'll say. It meant I could move to a better house and I've got time to study now too.

**Lisa:** So you've enrolled in further education since beginning here?

Flick: Yes, Business College. It's only by correspondence but Mr Cullen said he'd help to pay for further courses if I get good grades on this first part.

**Lisa:** Okay, we'll talk more about the school in a bit. Are you single, Flick?

Flick: I am, although I've just met someone new. (She blushes a lovely shade of crimson at the admission)

**Lisa:** Keep me posted.

Flick: Sure. (She giggles)

**Lisa:** Describe for me your role here at the college please?

Flick: Well, I handle all the applications for admissions here. I vet the ones that don't meet the requirements and then meet with those who do. I do the initial interviews and then I pass on those that I think could fit here to Mr Cullen.

**Lisa:** So you work quite closely with Mr Cullen?

Flick: Yeah. I think we work well together and I want to learn as much as I can.

**Lisa:** You also handle PR and are the face of the College, is that correct?

Flick: I wouldn't put it that way, but I do handle all the incoming enquiries and I am the first face you see when you arrive. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** Are there strict requirements for applicants?

Flick: Not strict so much as unique.

**Lisa:** How so?

Flick: Well, I won't give names, but there is one boy who is already outstripping his classmates at math at his regular school. He's got the potential to be a bit of a math genius but he's a bit of a handful.

**Lisa:** Not exactly exclusive, private college material, is that what you mean?

Flick: (Laughing) Yeah, something like that. The rules at other colleges that offer a math program like ours mean that he doesn't have a hope of being accepted. But here he has been.

**Lisa:** Even though he's a handful?

Flick: Yep. Mr Cullen met with him and his parents and got their assurance that he'd behave if given this chance.

**Lisa:** Is it really a chance though, if the tuition has to be paid for by the parents? Isn't that just buying a place?

Flick: No way. It doesn't work like that around here. This kid could end up being a rocket scientist or something amazing like that. Buying a place at a college won't make that happen whether he pays to go here or somewhere else. He's got to want to work at it. So Mr Cullen offered his family a financial arrangement that hinges on his cooperation and grades.

**Lisa:** Impressive.

Flick: We think so. (She smiles proudly)

**Lisa:** Does that happen often then? During the admission process, I mean.

Flick: What? Mr Cullen stepping in like that? Yeah. It does. There's going to be a heap of kids here come opening that all have tailored incentive packages.

**Lisa:** So Mr Cullen has personally tailored the tuition costs, and the courses with incentives, for students he's accepted?

Flick: That's pretty much it, yep.

**Lisa:** He's a very impressive man, isn't he?

Flick: (Smiling widely) He sure is.

**Lisa:** Describe him for me, if you will?

Flick: Oh, well. I don't know. I guess he's real smart. I mean, at his age, to be doing this, he'd have to be, right? He's actually younger than me and he's already done so much for himself. And he's so nice to everyone, everyone loves him. We had so many applications from teachers it took us four weeks to narrow them down by half. The interviews alone took weeks. And then there are the others. The other Cullen's I mean. They're all so young but they're all really amazing.

**Lisa:** So you get on well with all the Cullen's?

Flick: Oh sure. It's like a big family here. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** And Mrs Cullen? Do you get on well with Mrs Cullen too?

Flick: Which one? (She giggles) There are so many of them. I mean, Esme is amazing. So kind and gentle and always willing to help. And Rose, she's scary but she's great too. Alice is so much fun and Bella, well, Bella's special.

**Lisa:** How so?

Flick: For the boss. I mean, they adore each other. You can see it. They're so in love. I'm so jealous half the time. (She laughs) And they work so hard and so well together. This place wouldn't have come even this far without Bella onboard.

**Lisa:** You mentioned Esme Cullen. Does she visit the college often?

Flick: Oh yes. She's always helping the boss with something or other. She's always here when he takes meetings and she always helps me if I get snowed under. And nothing is ever too much trouble and just between you and me I've put on eight pounds since she started bringing cookies in to the office.

**Lisa:** I have heard she's a great cook. The other Mrs Cullen, Rose, you think she's scary?

Flick: Oh I know she'd never hurt a fly, but she is pretty protective of her husband. That's Emmett Cullen; he's head of the engineering department here. Or he will be if we ever open. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** So still no opening date then?

Flick: I think we're close to having one.

**Lisa:** And the other Mrs Cullen?

Flick: (thinking hard) Oh, Alice. She's a firecracker. I love her, she's so much fun. She took me shopping right after I got the job here. Helped me buy a heap of businessy clothes.

**Lisa:** You haven't mentioned Dr Cullen as yet, have you met him at all?

Flick: Carlisle? Oh sure. He's great. Dishy as hell too. (She giggles) Don't write this bit down but I think if they put his picture on the prospectus we'd be able to open a mature age section real easily.

**Lisa:** Edward Cullen's picture might help that too. (I laugh conspiratorially)

Flick: (She frowns before answering) Hey, that's my boss. I don't see him that way.

**Lisa:** I apologise.

Flick: It's okay. It's just that he's been so good to me. This job and helping me get into my courses. I guess I'm just a bit protective. Not Rose-type protective though. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** It seems he's made quite an impression on you.

Flick: He has, but I don't think he'd say the same thing about me after our first meeting.

**Lisa:** How so?

Flick: Oh, nothing really. Let's just say I was less business and more childish back then.

**Lisa:** Where is it you hope this job will take you?

Flick: Long term?

**Lisa:** If you like, yes.

Flick: Oh, well, I guess I'd like to learn as much as I can about the business side of this place. I'd like to be able to help Antony – he's our Head of Accounts – more and then I'd like to have a go at marketing this place. But that's a ways off.

**Lisa:** Somehow I don't think it will take you long. Alright Flick, last question. What do you hope is in your future?

Flick: A man who looks at me like the boss looks at Bella. (She giggles) I guess I want a family of my own and a husband to love. Oh, and some more money, if you can hear me boss. (She giggles)

At the time this interview concluded I could quite clearly hear Edward Cullen chuckling in his office upstairs.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading, and indulging me. **

**Please review and let me know where I went wrong. Because I know I have with this one. It just didn't flow as easily as the others did. Perhaps she's too human. LOL**


	36. Interviews with Vampires - Renee Swan

This interview with Renee Swan was conducted at her home, Forks WA.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** Thank you for agreeing to speak with me today. I have a few standard questions and then we'll move on to some more personalised ones. Please state your full name.

Renee: It's quite a list. (She laughs) My name now is Renee Swan.

**Lisa:** And previously?

Renee: Renee Dwyer, nee Higginbotham.

**Lisa:** And your husband's name?

Renee: Charles Swan.

**Lisa:** And the Dwyer comes from where?

Renee: My shit of an ex husband, Phil.

**Lisa:** Is it true this is the second time you've been Mrs Swan?

Renee: It is. (She laughs) I was married to Charlie first, then Phil, now Charlie again. God, it makes me sound like such a flake.

**Lisa:** Not at all. It's actually rather romantic.

Renee: If you say so. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** We'll come back to that topic shortly. Could you state your year of birth and where you were born please?

Renee: I could, but I'm not going to. (Laughing heartily now) I'm not like the other women around here. I actually age. So let's just say that I'm old enough to have a 20 year old daughter, and a granddaughter argh, but that I'm young enough to still enjoy being a newlywed. Oh, and I was born in Downy California.

**Lisa:** And what do you do for a living please Renee?

Renee: I am the proud owner of Rainbow Early Learning Centre right here in Forks.

**Lisa:** So you're a daycare teacher, is that right?

Renee: Among other things, yes.

**Lisa:** And those things are?

Renee: Oh, well. Sure, I look after the little ones there too but I'm also the cook and cleaner, nurse and receptionist.

**Lisa:** It sounds busy.

Renee: It really is. We've got a waiting list a mile long now. I love it.

**Lisa:** Is it true that the title deed and the centre itself was given to you?

Renee: It's true. The Cullen's gave it to me for Christmas. Incredible, isn't it?

**Lisa:** Very. But they're very generous people I'm coming to learn.

Renee: Oh they are. So very generous. They have a lot, it's true, but they share it.

**Lisa:** We'll talk more about that too. What did you do before you began with the daycare?

Renee: Well, in Phoenix I taught at a kindergarten there too.

**Lisa:** So you've always had an affinity for small children?

Renee: (laughing) Not if you ask Bella!

**Lisa:** What do you mean?

Renee: Oh, well, I wasn't always the most attentive mother, I guess you could say. Bella practically raised herself for a while there. But I do love small children, yes.

**Lisa:** So, going back to your recent marriage. Congratulations by the way. What would you like to say about returning to Forks and to Charlie?

Renee: I didn't plan it, if that's what you're asking. It just sort of happened. Which is the way my life sort of goes. I fall into things. I don't seek things, they just find me. (She stares away wistfully for a few seconds before continuing) When Edward called us, me and Phil, to tell us that Bella had been hurt and that we should come right away we did. I just never left again.

**Lisa:** But Phil did?

Renee: Hmm mmm. He did. I can talk about all that stuff, can't I?

**Lisa:** Of course. I'm happy to record whatever you'd like to say.

Renee: Well, when we arrived and Edward explained to us what he was, what they all were, we both freaked out. I mean, anyone would, wouldn't they? It was just all so hard to believe at first. But after a while you just sort of accept it and when you're thrown into it like I was you don't get much of a chance to process anything. You just do what you can for your kid and hope that it's enough.

**Lisa:** But Phil didn't react that way, did he?

Renee: No. He didn't. Charlie knew already, though they tell me only by a few hours, so he'd had a bit of time to get his head around it. Phil and I arrived in the middle of the night and it was already done by then. No warning, no preparation. Phil took it badly. Very badly. Made Edward very angry I think, his reaction.

**Lisa:** What was it that Phil felt he couldn't handle? Just the changing process or something else?

Renee: We talked about it for hours and at the end he couldn't come to terms with what she was going to become. The process was horrible, of course, but I think whereas I was willing to sit by her side and help her through that so that we'd have a future together Phil didn't want the future so he didn't stay for the whole process.

**Lisa:** Is that something you can understand, in him, or is it reprehensible for you?

Renee: Oh, no. I don't blame him. Not really. I was angry at him at first, but that wore off when I saw that he just wasn't handling the situation at all well. It was a lot to take in and it's changed my life forever. Phil's a simple man. He likes simple things and I guess this was just too complicated for him. I don't like how he chose to deal with it, but I can see why he did. In his shoes I mean. I didn't feel that way so he left and I stayed.

**Lisa:** With Charlie no less.

Renee: (Giggling) Yeah, with Charlie. That just sort of happened too.

**Lisa:** Understandable, I think. That was your daughter and I don't think it's uncommon in the human realm for parents to come together, or bond again, during times of great stress for their children.

Renee: I totally agree. And that's how it started. Comfort. Just being there, and listening, which was never something either of us had ever been very good at over the years. I guess, with Bella not being able to actually be near us for those first weeks that it left us alone to actually talk. She was the common link.

**Lisa:** For future reference what is it you'd like to tell other human parents who might be faced with the kinds of challenges you've faced with Bella's change?

Renee: I don't think that it's just this situation, Bella needing to be changed I mean, that I'd like to comment on. I just want to tell all parents that they should love their kids as much as they can. No matter who or what they are. Love and support them, encourage and appreciate them. I haven't always done that before, but I won't ever make that same mistake again.

**Lisa:** How would you describe the Cullen's?

Renee: Oh, well, I guess they are just genuinely beautiful people.

**Lisa:** I notice you call them people, never vampires, why is that?

Renee: Because they are people first, vampires second. Like diabetics. Person first, diabetic after that. That's how I see it anyway.

**Lisa:** So you've accepted them?

Renee: Of course.

**Lisa:** Because your daughter is married to one of them?

Renee: Not at all. I think about that sometimes. I knew Bella and Edward were to be married. He'd called and told us that he was planning to propose. When I thought it was just a regular pairing I knew he was a good guy and that he was utterly devoted to her. Then after, after I found out what he was and what she was going to be, that didn't change for me at all. He's still a good and caring man who is utterly devoted to her.

**Lisa:** Do you have a lot to do with the coven?

Renee: To me it's not a coven, it's a family. A regular family at that. Parents who work hard and love their kids. Brothers and sisters who fight amongst themselves sometimes but you can just tell how much they all love one another.

**Lisa:** And your day to day contact with them? Can you describe that for me?

Renee: Oh well I guess it's just like anyone else with a family in law. I see a lot of Esme since we organised the wedding together and I see Bella every other day or so. Edward not so much now that the school is so busy getting ready. I see the others when they gather or when we do something as a family. Oh, and we go to the beach with them a lot since Charlie got the bigger boat. That's always fun.

**Lisa:** The extended family who visits quite often, what would you like to tell me about them?

Renee: The other vampires? Oh, they're interesting. (She laughs) So many different personalities and mannerisms. It was strange at first because I had this notion that they were all going to be just like the Cullen's I already knew. But of course, like all big groups, that was so far from the truth it was laughable.

**Lisa:** Do you have any favourites?

Renee: Amongst the bigger group? Sure. Of course. The women. They're all so friendly and they've all lived such long and interesting lives. I love just sitting with them and listening to their stories. But I like most of the men too. But there are a few that are more than a little intimidating.

**Lisa:** Did you find the Cullen's intimidating at first meeting?

Renee: I was too scared for Bella to feel much at all really, that first few days. But as I got to know them they became less intimidating.

**Lisa:** Was there a time when you were frightened of them?

Renee: Of course. I mean, they're designed to be frightening, aren't they? But I say that in the same way I'd say that about meeting a lion for the first time. It might be a big kitten in reality, but you're taught to fear them, so you do, at first.

**Lisa:** What was it about them that put you at ease in the end?

Renee: That's easy. It was Edward. It was the way he was suffering. Watching him suffer because my baby was suffering put me at ease. I think I bonded a little with him over that, feeling the same things. Of course I felt awful for his pain, but knowing he loved her that much, that he felt the pain for himself, made me see that he truly was sorry for what had happened to her and that he'd be there for her always.

**Lisa:** How did you feel when you realised that forever really did mean forever for them?

Renee: Relieved.

**Lisa:** How so?

Renee: No parent wants to think about their child dying. No parent wants to outlive a child. I won't have to do that. She'll live forever. Healthy, happy and strong. I won't have to watch her die to some horrid disease or some accident that nobody could've prevented. It's comforting really.

**Lisa:** And then when they told you Bella was pregnant. Describe your reaction when you were told you were going to be a grandmother.

Renee: Oh gosh. That wasn't really a good time for me. (She laughs long and hard) I kept a lid on it, and I genuinely was so very pleased for them, especially because Edward had explained that it was supposed to be impossible in the beginning. But that night, after they told everyone, I went home and sobbed and sobbed.

**Lisa:** You were upset?

Renee: No! Not really. I was just totally human about it. (She laughs) I was too young to be a grandmother. I was too young to have a daughter who was old enough to be a mother in my own mind. My reaction was selfish and childish but now that she's here she's so wonderful I wonder why I ever balked.

**Lisa:** You have a lot to do with Renesmee?

Renee: Oh yes. She came to the centre when she was just a few months old. To learn to behave more like a human you see. She needed to do that so she could go to normal schools and have normal friends. I see her all the time. She stays with us quite a bit when Bella and Edward go on dates or there's something big happening at the big house that she can't be a part of.

**Lisa:** And when she's here, with you, do you do human things together?

Renee: We do. She lets me braid her hair and we bake although I'm terrible at it and she doesn't really eat that sort of thing anyway. We go to the shops and I've taken her to plays and children's movies. It really is very normal. She fights me when it's time for bed and she beats me at every game we attempt. But other than that part she's perfectly normal.

**Lisa:** That does sound very normal. How do you feel about the bond between Seth and your granddaughter? And what was your initial reaction to the news?

Renee: I knew about imprinting already, because of Bella and Edward of course. But nothing prepared me for that, with Nessa and Seth. Edward had explained to us that he'd met and fallen for Bella when she was very little, but not in infancy. So that took a bit of getting used to.

**Lisa:** How do you feel about it now?

Renee: I think it's wonderful actually. Edward once told me that Seth would be everything she needs. He'd do everything he could to make her happy and keep her safe. And that's all a parent, or a grandparent, should want for their children. He's so good with her and she obviously adores him too.

**Lisa:** The inclusion of the Quileute pack into the group, how has that affected you?

Renee: Oh gosh. That one threw us for a serious curveball. Now, I remember the Quileute's from my time living here with Charlie that first time around. You could've knocked me down with a feather the day I found out they could change into wolves! I didn't think that was possible and even though I'd only just gotten my head around the fact that my daughter was a vampire when they told me about the wolves, and the pack and how it works, I had a hard time believing it.

**Lisa:** Why was that?

Renee: Because they all look so normal! (She laughs)

**Lisa:** Did the Cullen's not look normal to you then, in contrast?

Renee: No, they didn't. They're so pale. And so perfect looking. The wolves just looked like the regular natives I remembered from before. The first time I saw one of them phase I just about peed my pants.

**Lisa:** A normal reaction I'm betting.

Renee: I think so. Charlie told me he nearly wet himself the first time he saw them too.

**Lisa:** That would've been the day Bella was hurt, correct?

Renee: Yes.

**Lisa:** Quite an initiation.

Renee: He still has nightmares over it.

**Lisa:** How did the way you were initiated into the secret affect the way you saw the world and live your life?

Renee: I don't think the way it came about has affected me other than to say that nobody should ever have to see their child hurt. That's unrealistic, I know, but I wish nobody ever did. But now that I know everything my life has changed. And not just because I didn't go back to Phoenix with Phil. But in fundamental ways. I'm safer than I've ever been, living between a very powerful coven of vampires and a pack of huge wolves. I value my life more, I think. After learning how easy it would be to lose it to a mythical creature that is. I'm happier, I think. Happy that my daughter is settled and has a good life of her own. Happy that she had a healthy and happy child and a good marriage. I'm content knowing that she'll be provided for, forever, and that even after I'm long gone she'll remember me.

**Lisa:** After Bella's change how did you react the first time you saw her?

Renee: (She shudders minutely) Oh that was a big shock actually. It was the eyes, you see. Bright red. They freaked me out. But that was balanced out by the fact that she was alive and well and so very beautiful. Not that she wasn't before. But she was perfect, like the Cullen's, and always would be.

**Lisa:** How did you feel that night when you had to leave her there, at the Cullen house, knowing you probably wouldn't be able to be near her again for more than a year?

Renee: It was gutting. That's the best way I can describe it. I mean, she'd been living here in Washington for ages and its true I hadn't seen her for a while, but knowing I could whenever I wanted to and having that taken away hurt. So badly. I was very angry with Edward for a bit after that. I'm not proud of it, but I was.

**Lisa:** Could you describe your anger for me?

Renee: I blamed him. Not for the accident, I know that that wasn't his fault at all. But after she woke up again I guess I blamed him for not being strong enough to stay away from her.

**Lisa:** What changed to make you trust him again?

Renee: Oh it wasn't about trust. It was just misguided angst. I needed someone to blame and Edward was the closest thing I guess. I saw the most of him, you see, because he came everyday to check on Charlie and me. I trusted him right from the off. You can't not. He's a good man and that comes across the instant you meet him. I'm sure the other people you've interviewed have said the same thing.

**Lisa:** They have indeed. Alright, I'd like to talk about the recent fight if you're willing?

Renee: Sure, but I don't know much about it because I wasn't actually there.

**Lisa:** I understand. What can you tell me about the weeks leading up to it?

Renee: It was awful. Like I said before, I got used to the idea that they'd live forever and then as soon as I got used to that it was like the carpet was ripped out from under me again. I was right back to the start, like the day we found out she'd been hurt. They were all so scared. But really brave too. They made plans, so many plans, and contingencies. They made sure we understood and that we were well taken care of should it go wrong. Thank god it didn't.

**Lisa:** At the end, when you were at the Reservation, and Seth brought Renesmee to you, what was that like?

Renee: Relief. When I saw him running with her on his back I was so relieved that they were alright. Of course I was worried as hell too. I wondered if he'd brought her there because the others had...well...died. And then when that other vampire came and Seth had to fight him, that was horrendous.

**Lisa:** But he prevailed, right?

Renee: He did. He's very brave and I knew he'd protect Nessa with everything he had. He nearly did too.

**Lisa:** He was close to death, wasn't he?

Renee: I believe so, yes.

**Lisa:** And when Bella arrived?

Renee: It was Bella and Jasper actually. They arrived together. I didn't see what Bella did but I heard about it later. (She shudders)

**Lisa:** But Seth recovered well?

Renee: He did. He's good as new now. They all are. Except for poor Brady.

**Lisa:** That was a sad loss.

Renee: It really was. He was just a boy. Could've been Seth. I hate to think...

**Lisa:** Okay. So, last question. What is it you hope is in your future?

Renee: Oh, well, I wouldn't like to wish for anything more than I already have. I guess just that everyone I love stays healthy and that they have happy lives.

Interview concluded.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**Please review. **


	37. Interviews with Vampires - Rose

This interview was conducted at Forks Smash Repairs and Panel Shop, Forks, WA.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** Thank you for agreeing to this interview. I have a few standard questions and then we'll get on to more personalised ones. Please state your full name.

Rosalie: Rosalie Lillian Hale McCarty Cullen

**Lisa:** The year you were turned?

Rosalie: 1933

**Lisa:** And your sire is?

Rosalie: Carlisle Cullen

**Lisa:** Your age at your transformation?

Rosalie: Look, is this really necessary? (We break the flow of the interview so that I can remind that interviewee that any information given is at the discretion of the giver. After a brief review of the 'rules' the interview continues) Fine. I was 18, it was a very happy and spoiled childhood, blah blah blah.

**Lisa:** (I can't help but laugh. I'd known this was going to be _some _interview) Alright, one more boring question and then we can move on. Where were you born?

Rosalie: Rochester, New York.

**Lisa:** You said it was a very happy childhood. What would you like to tell me about it? If anything?

Rosalie: I had everything I wanted and needed.

**Lisa:** Everything?

Rosalie: Yes. Anything I wanted my father provided.

**Lisa:** So your family was wealthy?

Rosalie: Look, there is nothing more to say on it. I was born to two healthy, loving parents, I was bought up in privilege but I didn't choose _this_ life. That's an end to it. Move on.

**Lisa:** Alright. What would you like to tell me about the time of your change?

Rosalie: I didn't ever say I wanted to tell you anything about it.

**Lisa:** Alright. Is there anything you _can_ tell me about your change?

Rosalie: It fucking hurt.

**Lisa:** They all do. Alright, moving on. Your mates full name please?

Rosalie: Emmett McCarty Cullen.

**Lisa:** Your daughters full name please?

Rosalie: Angel May McCarty Cullen.

**Lisa:** Would you like to say anything about the way she came to be yours?

Rosalie: (Huffing lightly before answering) I'm sure the others have said it all.

**Lisa:** I haven't asked anyone else.

Rosalie: Really? I get to tell it? All of it? (Her face lights up as she warms to the subject of her child) Oh, well alright then. After the fight Edward and Alice told us that one of the fallen had left behind a human mate who was pregnant. Emmett and I went to his home to help the girl. The result was Angel.

**Lisa:** The girl didn't wish to be turned?

Rosalie: No. And by the time we found out about her, and got there, it was too late to do it.

**Lisa:** What was her name?

Rosalie: That's private and something that Angel will tell you for herself if she wants to.

**Lisa:** Understood. Please describe for me your place inside the Cullen coven.

Rosalie: (tutting quite loudly) God, fine. I'm the third turned of Carlisle, sister to Alice and Bella, Jasper and Edward. Mate to Emmett, adopted daughter of Esme and aunt to Renesmee. Mother to Angel.

**Lisa:** Do you hold a position on the Council?

Rosalie: No.

**Lisa:** Did you nominate?

Rosalie: No.

**Lisa:** Why not?

Rosalie: It's not my sort of thing. I don't play well with others. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** Okay, we'll move on. Do you, your mate or your child have a gift?

Rosalie: No.

(Reverting to questions about her child, whom she obviously adores, seemed the best course to take at this point lest the interview be ground to a halt at the interviewees request)

**Lisa:** How has becoming a mother changed your life?

Rosalie: In so many ways. For a start it was a gift I had long since given up hope of ever having. And then it was just handed to us. Well, not _just_ handed to us. We are all very mindful of what Angels mother gave up in order for us to have Angel, but she was a gift I never thought I'd ever have all the same. And at the time that was frightening.

**Lisa:** How so?

Rosalie: Longing for something you know you can't possibly have is easier than having to learn to have it. It didn't come as naturally as I always thought it would. It's been hard. But it's also been amazing.

**Lisa:** What things do you find hardest?

Rosalie: Understanding her.

**Lisa:** How so?

Rosalie: She is only half vampire and I've been a vampire for so long I've forgotten what it's like to be human.

**Lisa:** And that's been difficult for you to come to?

Rosalie: It has. Having Bella around made it a little easier because she is the most human of us all, and the newest to this life, but it's still be a steep learning curve for me. We'll have to teach Angel, just like Eddie and Bella did for Nessa, about being human so that she can live amongst them. That's hard when you don't recall how to do that on a grand scale. Sure we pretend pretty well but there is hardly any similarity between remembering to cross your legs every ten minutes - and to blink when you're bored - and teaching your child how to eat human food. One doesn't relate to the other at all.

**Lisa:** And your mate, does he struggle as well?

Rosalie: Whoa Nellie, I never said we struggled. I said it was hard to learn, at first. And for the record Emmett's never struggled with a damn thing in his life. (She laughs) Renee, that's Bella's mother, she's been great. When Nessa was small she went there, to the kindergarten that she owns, and Angel goes there too now.

**Lisa:** And at the kindergarten she learns to be more human?

Rosalie: Not _more_ human. She's half and always will be. But yeah, she goes there to learn human traits and to learn to be around human children so she blends in better.

**Lisa:** Does she mix with the children on the Reservation at all?

Rosalie: Of course she does. Seth especially. But all of them really, when they're around. Which is always. (She huffs)

**Lisa:** How do you feel about the inclusion of the wolf pack to your family?

Rosalie: I don't like it. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** You don't like that a wolf shifter has imprinted on your niece?

Rosalie: I never said that. If you print that I'll hunt you. (She points a long, pointed, painted fingernail at me and growls softly) It's not that I don't like the wolves, per se. But they smell so bad. And they shed. (She laughs) They don't really shed, but I like to tease them about it anyway. But the smell is bad.

**Lisa:** So they take a bit of getting used to then?

Rosalie: I don't think I'll ever get the smell of wet dog out of my new house, no. But they're okay I guess. They fight great and they are pretty loyal I guess. They can track and hunt and Seth's good with Nessa and Angel. Oh, alright. They aren't all bad. But I'll deny having said that if asked.

**Lisa:** Is it true that you were given a half share in this business?

Rosalie: That's true. Yes. I got it for Christmas.

**Lisa:** And you share it with the wolf pack Alpha?

Rosalie: (rolling her eyes) Fine, yes. I share it with Sam.

**Lisa:** And he has the controlling interest?

Rosalie: He likes to think he has control. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** Did you not consider a place teaching at your brother's school?

Rosalie: And give up all this? (She waves a hand around the office which is strewn with oily car parts and engineering magazines.) No, I didn't want to teach. I don't like humans all that much and I definitely don't like human children much. No, wait. I take that back. I don't like snotty human children who think they know everything and would resent being shown how to rebuild a carburettor by a chick.

**Lisa:** But the wolves don't mind that?

Rosalie: If they do they know to keep quiet about it. (She laughs) But no, they don't mind because I don't have to show them anything. They know what they are doing and they knew long before I scored a share of this place. I guess that's why this works as well as it does. Nobody knows more than anyone else, nobody has to show anyone anything, we just turn up to work and fix what's bought in.

**Lisa:** Is there anything that your daughter has shown a particular aptitude for?

Rosalie: Nothing in particular, no. She seems to be good at most things so far. She learns fast.

**Lisa:** Is it possible that she's a savant, as your niece is?

Rosalie: (Scowling) Definitely not. She's normal.

**Lisa:** You consider your niece to not be normal?

Rosalie: I didn't say that. (Pointing the same polished, razor sharp nail at me and scowling) If you say I did you'll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your days. Nessa is normal, for us, I meant. But she's got gifts up the wazoo and nobody can really help her with that, settling into who'll she'll become when she's grown, because nobody we know of has more than one gift, or gifts like she does.

**Lisa:** Alright. I'd like to talk a little bit about your mate for a moment. Your sire changed your mate, at your request, is that correct?

Rosalie: (Scowling) Yes.

**Lisa:** And you are the product of imprinting?

Rosalie: I'm not, my mate is. (She laughs)

**Lisa:** You imprinted on him the instant you saw him, is that correct?

Rosalie: Yes.

**Lisa:** And you felt compelled to protect him?

Rosalie: Of course.

**Lisa:** And your adoptive parents, are they an imprinted pair?

Rosalie: (thinking momentarily) I'm not sure. They behave as if they are, but I don't know for sure if either one imprinted on the other. You'd have to ask them.

**Lisa:** And your brothers and sisters, are they imprintees?

Rosalie: You know that Edward and Bella are, but I don't know how to describe Alice and Jaz properly.

**Lisa:** Alright. Let's move on. What do you hope for your daughter, for her future?

Rosalie: I want her to be healthy and happy and have and do what she wants. It's pretty simple.

**Lisa:** And for yourself?

Rosalie: Nothing more than I already have.

Interview concluded.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Thank you for all the recent good wishes. **

**I have now had the dreaded tumour removed and will go later today to get my first look at the mess that is left, and hopefully some pathology results. To everyone who wished me well for surgery thank you, your good wishes got me through. **

**I have one more interview to post, Renesmee, and then I will continue with the main story. **

**Please review. **


	38. Interviews with Vampires - Nessa

This interview was conducted with the permission of both parents. No request was made to have a guardian, or adult, present during the interview.

What follows is a transcript of the actual interview. Nothing has been omitted, censored or changed from the original recording. These are the thoughts and feelings of the interviewee and the thoughts and feelings of the interviewer have in no way hampered the transcription process.

**Lisa:** Hello Renesmee, my name is Lisa. Is it alright if I ask you a few questions today?

Renesmee: Can I ask you some questions first, please?

**Lisa:** (I will admit to being startled, though not shocked. My interactions with the rest of the Cullen coven, and others attached to it, have given me a heads up regarding the enigmatic Renesmee Cullen) Yes of course.

Renesmee: Where do you live?

**Lisa:** Um, in Utah.

Renesmee: And do you have a big family to live with?

**Lisa:** Um, no, not exactly.

Renesmee: How exactly? Do you just live with your mate, then?

**Lisa:** Well, I live with another girl, Louisa, and her mate. I don't have a mate of my own.

Renesmee: You have pretty eyes. They're just like my mommy's. Do you, and your friends, hunt people?

**Lisa:** No, we don't.

Renesmee: So, you're just like my family then? You don't want to hurt people?

**Lisa:** That's right. We don't want to hurt anyone.

Renesmee: Your brain's funny. (She says with a charming giggle as she tilts her head to one side, not unlike her father's habit)

**Lisa:** Funny?

Renesmee: Yes. You want a mate because as soon as I asked you started thinking about having a family like mine, but then your brain said you didn't really want one because you like to travel. And that makes no sense at all because mates can travel, together. My Aunty Alice and Uncle Jaz they travel all the time, and Nana-me and Pa too, they travel lots.

**Lisa:** Okay.

Renesmee: You should come and stay with us for a bit here. Lots of nice girls find mates when they stay here with us. Like Katie and Tanya and Zaffy and Senna and Kachiri. You should meet Jonathon, he's very nice, he's Australian you know, that's in the South Pacific, a very long way away but not far if your Pa can fly big airplanes like mine. Can yours? Or maybe you'd like a wolf. They're so much fun and they live right here, so you could stay close to us.

**Lisa:** (At this point in time there is a slight pause on the recording while I attempt to compose myself.) Um, okay, I'll think about staying for a while. Can I ask you some questions now?

Renesmee: Yes please. This is fun.

**Lisa:** Alright. Can you tell me your full name please?

Renesmee: Easy peasy. My name is Renesmee Carlie Mason Cullen.

**Lisa:** And how old are you?

Renesmee: I'm only three, but as a human I'm nearly ten.

**Lisa:** And you were born to whom?

Renesmee: My mommy and daddy, silly.

**Lisa:** Right. And do you know their names?

Renesmee: Of course. I'm not dumb. My daddy is Edward Anthony Masen Cullen and my mommy is Isabella Marie Swan Masen Cullen.

**Lisa:** That's a lot of names.

Renesmee: We need to have lots of names. Daddy says that's so we can live in lots of places and stay safe. He's very clever.

**Lisa:** He is. You have a very nice family here and I believe you have some other friends, friends that aren't vampires, living close by too?

Renesmee: Oh yes. We have lots of friends. Human ones and wolfie ones too. (She giggles)

**Lisa:** That's right. Humans and wolves. Your human grandparents live close by, don't they?

Renesmee: (Cocking her head to one side, again) Yep. But you don't need to ask me questions like a baby, you can just ask me the ones in your brain. Daddy says I can answer anything I want to, I'm allowed to. I'm a big girl in my brain, so you just ask whatever you want. You won't make me cross. (She smiles)

**Lisa:** (Having been thoroughly 'checked' I continue in a more adult fashion) Your grandparents live nearby. How would you describe your association with them as humans?

Renesmee: They are my grandparents. I think everyone has them. Even the wolves. I go there to visit, or they come here. My Pop is a policeman and my Nana-ne runs a daycare. They are very normal. Nana-ne taught me to be more normal and my Pop takes me on his boat, and to football in the city and to dinner in real diners. We are very normal.

**Lisa:** And the wolves?

Renesmee: I think they are normal too but Aunty Rosie thinks they are horrid. (She giggles)

**Lisa:** I'm sure they're very normal. But what makes them special enough to be such good friends of yours?

Renesmee: That's an easy one. They are nice people. They protect me when I'm in danger and they love and play with me when I'm not.

**Lisa:** Do they frighten you when they turn into wolves?

Renesmee: No. I don't think so. They are very big but they are very cuddly too. If you ask nicely they will let you ride on their shoulders when we're running in the forest. They like a good scratch on their tummy's but don't pull their tails (She points a finger at me and looks stern) because they don't like that.

**Lisa:** They sound a lot of fun.

Renesmee: They are. And fast. They can run very fast, almost as fast as Daddy, and they love to go hunting so they run with us a lot.

**Lisa:** Do you hunt with the wolves too?

Renesmee: Sometimes. I don't hunt as often as the rest of my family. I don't like human food very much, but I do want to fit in with humans so I don't hunt very often. Sometimes I get to go as a treat when the bobcats come down from the very high mountains in spring.

**Lisa:** You hunt bobcats?

Renesmee: No. Mommy says I'm too little still. (The little girl does not look at all amused by this) But sometimes Sethy lets me go for them. (She grins adorably)

**Lisa:** Sethy?

Renesmee: My Seth.

**Lisa:** Seth is a wolf, yes?

Renesmee: Hmm mmm, and he's my wolf.

**Lisa:** How so?

Renesmee: Your brain says you already know, silly.

**Lisa:** I do already know, yes, but would you tell me a little bit about your Seth so I can write it down?

Renesmee: Alright. Seth is a wolf. He's sixteen and really, really big now. He's mine and I'm his. I'm going to live in a big, big bright house with him one day and we'll have bacon and grapes whenever we want. And we'll go hunting bobcats too.

**Lisa:** That sounds like a good plan.

Renesmee: We have lots of plans. Daddy and mommy make lots of plans. It's a good thing, I think. They are always talking about what's going to happen next, and what I should be doing and where I should be going. But Sethy and I have plans too.

**Lisa:** Would you like to tell me some of them?

Renesmee: I guess I can, they aren't a secret or anything. Well, we're going to live here, in Forks, in a big house like I said. We'll build it in the woods behind the big house, like mommy and daddy and Aunty Rosie and Uncle Em did. But not too close. We don't want to hear them. (She scrunches up her nose at this) We are going to have lots of little babies and Sethy is going to be a doctor, like my Pa and my daddy are. And he's going to work at Forks Hostible and make all the little children better. I'm going to teach at daddy's school. I don't know what I will teach yet though. Daddy says I can pick whatever I want. But I think I'd like to teach a bit of everything. I can remember things, you see.

**Lisa:** Really? Lots of different things? At the same time?

Renesmee: Your brain says you know about this too. (She giggles)

**Lisa:** I do know a bit of it, yes. Your daddy told me.

Renesmee: He says I'm a savant.

**Lisa:** What do you think you are?

Renesmee: I'm Renesmee.

**Lisa:** Is that all? Just Renesmee?

Renesmee: (Thinking hard) No, I guess not just Renesmee.

**Lisa:** What else, or who else, do you think you are?

Renesmee: I'm a part of my family and I'm friends with lots of people. I'm Angel's cousin and Seth's special person. I'm smart and I'm a little bit human and a little bit _vampire_ too. (She whispers the word vampire very carefully whilst looking about the room.)

**Lisa:** Do you like being a little bit vampire?

Renesmee: I guess so. I will like it much more when I'm done growing I think.

**Lisa:** How so?

Renesmee: I will be allowed to decide things for myself then. Like Angelica and Nathaniel do.

**Lisa:** What sort of things will you be able to decide for yourself when you're grown?

Renesmee: I like to put syrup on my food and mommy says it's gross. But I like it. And I'll be able to go to the Rez whenever I want, not just when mommy says it's alright. I can go swimming at First Beach whenever I want then too. And have friends over. And decide what to wear. No ribbons. Aunty Alice always makes me wear ribbons. (She huffs)

**Lisa:** Do you like going to school at your daddy's school?

Renesmee: Oh yes. (Clapping her hands excitedly) I love it there.

**Lisa:** What parts do you love most?

Renesmee: I like homeroom because I get to be in class with mommy for a few minutes. Next I like morning tea because I sit with my friends and we talk about what they watch on television and what they played. Then I like assembly best out of everything.

**Lisa:** Assembly?

Renesmee: Oh yes. I love assembly.

**Lisa:** Really? What's so good about it?

Renesmee: Well, all the children go to the big hall and sit in neat rows. Everyone is real quiet while my daddy talks to them about important things.

**Lisa:** And you like that best of all?

Renesmee: I do.

**Lisa:** Because your daddy talks to everyone?

Renesmee: Your brain says you don't understand. That's okay. Not everybody understands me. Daddy talks to all the children and all around everyone is quiet and polite and respectful because they like my daddy and his school. They think nice things about him while he tells them important things.

**Lisa:** And you listen to their thoughts during assemblies?

Renesmee: Not all at once. That would be too loud. I like to pick one or two children and listen to them. But mostly I listen to the bigger children, and daddy lets me listen to his brain while he's talking. I like that best of all.

**Lisa:** What does he think while he's talking?

Renesmee: He thinks about all the important things. About keeping the children safe and making sure they are happy there and learning a lot. He likes to think about his teachers and how much he likes them. He especially likes it when one of his music students plays the piano for the national anthem. That's his favourite part. Mine too.

**Lisa:** You like music?

Renesmee: Oh yes. All music. But most especially the piano and the double bass.

**Lisa:** Really?

Renesmee: The big bass makes my tummy rumble. (She giggles) And daddy and I play the piano a lot.

**Lisa:** Your daddy said I could ask you about your gifts. Is that okay?

Renesmee: If daddy said I could tell you then its okay.

**Lisa:** Alright. So, you can listen to people's brains, just like your daddy can, is that right?

Renesmee: Sort of. Daddy has to listen to everyone, all the time. He doesn't like it too much. But I can just listen to who I want, or nobody at all.

**Lisa:** So you can turn the voices off?

Renesmee: Yep. I can.

**Lisa:** So you can read minds and you're super smart, is there anything else that you can do?

Renesmee: (Nodding) Yep. But it's hard to explain. Can I show you?

**Lisa:** Sure.

At this point in the interview Renesmee reaches across the table and places her fingertips to my cheek. Immediately I can see a replay of the last minute or so of our interview. In living colour. As though it is a 3D movie playing inside my own head.

With the retreat of her little hand the 'movie' stops.

Renesmee: That's what I can do.

**Lisa:** That's amazing.

Renesmee: Not really. My friend Zaffy can do it too and she doesn't need to touch you to do it, either.

**Lisa:** Yes, I met your friend Zaffy a few days ago. She's very clever too.

Renesmee: She can make you see waterfalls and birds and once she even showed me elephants and giraffes!

**Lisa:** Can you do that too; show someone whatever you want them to see?

Renesmee: (giggling sweetly) Your brain already knows I can.

Renesmee once again reaches across the table and as her fingertips come into contact with my cheek I see bright green frogs leaping from lily pad to lily pad across a bright turquoise river.

**Lisa:** They're beautiful.

Renesmee: I like frogs.

**Lisa:** I can see that you do. Alright Renesmee, it's been so very nice to talk with you today. Thank you for answering my questions. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we finish?

Renesmee: Not really. But I do have one more question for you, is that okay?

**Lisa:** Sure.

Renesmee: If you really, really want to explore Australia like you said in your brain then would you come to the big house with me and meet Jonathon? You'll like him, I promise.

Interview concluded.

* * *

**A/N:**

**That's the last of the interviews for now. I've written a couple more but I think now that I've used them to reacquaint myself with the characters I'll leave them be for now. **

**I hope to post a proper chapter of the actual story this weekend. **

**For those that were waiting on my results today sorry, I have no news to share other than the surgeon was very happy with my recovery. The pathology results will be a few more days yet. I will keep you posted. **

**For those that have wished me well, and kept me in your prayers, thank you so very much. I'm sure it's helped. **

**Please review. **


	39. Chapter 28 - Back to the story

**Welcome back to Evolution!**

* * *

Chapter 28 – Welcome to the Fold.

**EPOV**

I got a very grumpy Renesmee ready for school the next morning. She missed her mother, as did I, but did her best to be understanding as to why she wasn't with us. Seth did his best to distract her.

He was being so very brave despite his knowing I'd heard his thoughts on many occasions recently that told me the real distress and fear he was feeling.

For all the growing, both physically and mentally, he'd done since the first time he'd fought beside us, he was still just a boy. A boy that had grown up far too fast and a boy who was struggling with his mortality, again. I knew his outward bravado was for Nessa's benefit but also knew that at some point, and very likely very soon, he was going to crack and he'd need me. Again. Last time he'd been facing something of this magnitude I'd found him at the school, in the bleachers, crying. I wondered where I'd find him this time.

When the time came I'd step up as best I could.

He was also worried about his friend Riley. Not _for_ him exactly, more what the coming war would mean for him and for Angel.

"I'll talk to Em," I told Seth quietly as he sat on my sofa putting his shoes on.

He didn't answer, merely nodded, so I knew he'd heard.

As it was the situation took a turn all on its own, without my interference, as we ran towards the school that morning. Emmett caught me up at the tree line by the school with a mental shout out. I slowed, watched as Seth and Nessa entered the school grounds, then turned back to meet Em at the point where the forest gave way to the sporting ovals.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Riley," he muttered as he came to a stop before me.

"What about him?" I hedged.

Emmett shrugged his huge shoulders and did what I normally did – ran his hand through his hair as he sighed. "He's asked to meet with us, you and me, this morning in your office."

That threw me. "You and me?" I asked my brother as he began to walk towards the admin block.

"Yep, you and me. And before you ask I have no idea what it's about."

There didn't seem to be any point speaking any further so we walked at a human pace towards the front doors in silence. I couldn't hear Riley's mental voice anywhere in the area and I didn't smell him either.

The usual smells were there, but not his specific scent. Linda greeted us with a smile and offered coffee as she usually did. She went back to her work as soon as I'd closed my brother and I into my office.

Emmett took the seat opposite mine and looked prepared to just sit in stasis with his own thoughts while I shuffled files and memos about as we waited for our guest to arrive.

**BPOV**

Leaving Flick to go to work is hard but necessary. Dieter understands and although Flick is still writhing with her own pain I am fairly certain that she does too. I promise to return as soon as my classes are over for the day and Dieter seems grateful.

I give Flick one last kiss to her temple and flee through the forest towards the school.

Knowing Edward would be waiting and watching for me I give him a brief wave as I cross the campus and go into my homeroom to mark the roll. I am dying to see him and Renesmee but have to be satisfied with just one of the pair for now.

I can tell that Nessa is as pleased to see me as I am her and that she was trying very hard to contain her excitement in front of her peers. She throws me many looks and one or two winks as the children answer to my call and as they all march out of the room and towards their first classes she runs to my side and slides her tiny hand into mine, pulling me down so she can whisper in my ear.

"I missed you mommy. How is our friend?" she asks in a tiny voice.

I straighten and smile. Brushing her curls from her face I wink, "She's very brave and she's doing just fine."

"Good," she says softly, "Will she be back at school very soon because I think daddy needs her."

I smile again at her warm and caring nature, "I'm sure she will be. Daddy will just have to make do with Ms Collins for a little while."

I hope Edward hears our exchange and I poke my tongue in his general direction before making my way to my first class.

**EPOV**

I can't help but chuckle as I hear my girls reunite between homeroom and first classes.

The crack about me needing Felicity makes me smile but the one about Linda does not. As polite and as attentive as she usually is toward me her relentless posturing and self importance after being told she'd be holding down the fort in Felicity's absence had been horrendous.

Her thoughts were filled with the 'opportunities to shine' she was going to have now that her main rival was away. I was busy trying to think of ways to thwart her when my cell chimed. Seeing it was David Piper I made sure my office door was closed and then answered.

"What news?" I asked, not bothering with niceties.

"Plenty, can we be overheard?" he asks in a no nonsense way.

"It's safe," I tell him just as matter of factly. I shift the phone slightly so that Emmett can hear too.

"Well, turns out your foe Kirkov has quite the reputation. Anyone I've mentioned that name to has paled, pardon the pun."

"Anyone have any recent specific knowledge?" I ask hopefully.

"If they do they didn't give it to me. But that's not to say that they don't know things. Look, I don't want to give names or details over the phone, but you've got quite a few – let's call them mutual friends – coming your way over the next weeks. They'll fill you in on what they can and can't do and what they do or don't know and what they can bring to the table, so to speak. I just thought you should know to be prepared for a pretty hefty influx if you know what I mean?"

His lawyer speak and general vagueness never failed to piss me off but I thanked him for the heads up anyway. If we survived this fight the council was going to need the little shit and I didn't want him offside.

"Do we need to be providing accommodations for any of our new guests?" I ask.

"Hard to say. They aren't all coming from inside the US so I would think that some of them would be needing a safe house or two, yes."

"Right, I'll make sure they are all taken care of as they arrive," I tell him curtly.

I hear him clear his throat and know I'm not going to enjoy whatever it is he's going to tell me next.

"There is just one thing I think you should know before I ring off," he hedges. "There is an acquaintance of mine coming to you from Columbia. I'm not sure if his whole _family_ is accompanying him so I think you should know he'll be the only one of our kind that is likely to be able to sneak up on you."

I scoff. "Nobody can sneak up on me," I laugh.

He laughs too, making me a little anxious. "Jeisson, that's his name, and I'm betting he is the only one who could my friend." And with that the line went dead.

I had no time to ponder that before the next problem arose.

"Riley Stone to see you, sir," Linda chimes from the outer office.

I press the intercom button, "Send him in," I tell her.

He looks ten years older than the last time I'd seen him as he comes across the room towards me. He holds his hand out across my desk and I shake it eagerly. He turns to a now standing Emmett and they too shake hands.

"How are you, son?" I ask tentatively.

"Sick," he says pitifully.

I can see that it's the truth and don't need to read the fact of it out of his thoughts. Emmett could see it too and it wasn't but a second before his thoughts to turn me looking just like this once. The boy was sick. He'd not slept, eaten or shifted since the last time I'd seen him at the big house.

I motion for him to take a seat opposite me. He hesitates just a little, trying to reconcile vampire, man and head master of his school. He looks to Em who motions that it's okay to sit and takes the offered seat. "Have you talked to your parents?" I ask.

"Haven't tried," he mutters and I curse in my head.

"You have to, and soon," I nod to Em who takes the only other vacant chair. "You can't do this on your own. They need to know what's going on for you. You can't hide this and you aren't going to want to, trust me."

Riley looks first at Em and then at me. "I have to try. They won't understand and you don't want me near her. I have no choice," he mumbles.

I look at Em and take a second to search his head for what he's thinking. He's sorry the kid is feeling so rotten but not wholly sold on the whole idea of letting him see Angel freely either.

For now my main concern is that this kid is alone in this. Whether or not he's 'allowed' to see Angel isn't the pressing issue, for now. I try another tack, a less subtle one, hoping to shock them both into a compromise.

"You'll continue to feel ill if you don't have any contact with Angel, you do understand that, right?" I ask bluntly.

He nods, resignedly. "I know that, now. It's not going to go away, is it?"

I sigh. "No. It's not. Ever." I know my answer is blunt but the time for gentle prodding has passed. They were running out of time and if Angel perished alongside us in the clearing this boy was likely to follow soon after, contact prior or no. I take a quick look at the clock on the wall and note that it's only five minutes until first break. I reach for the phone on my desk and press for Linda. "Could you get a message to my sister Rose at the garage for me? I need to see her as soon as she's free please Linda." I only wait for her confirmation of my request then replace the receiver. "I've talked to Emmett about your situation already this morning. We've got a few things to tell you and then we'll try and make a plan that everyone can live with, alright?"

Emmett nods, seemingly willing to try and find a way to make this work, at the very least.

Riley, on the other hand, hangs his head and his thoughts turn to what he was going to do once he was denied, formally, contact with Angel.

**Romania**

Planning for the long trek to America was easy compared to laying contingency plans should the family not be able to return. With their Aunt embroiled in the thick of the coming conflict there was nobody else to whom the castle and its inhabitants and workers could be entrusted.

Frantic calls across the continents ensued.

Raul and Dom closeted themselves away for days mapping out plans for the farmers and their families should the line of succession be broken. An unofficial spokesperson of the group of farmers was chosen to lead should nobody return. He didn't know it, but should the quest to rid the earth of Kirkov fail the farmer would be in charge of ensuring the lands continued to be worked.

All the help Eleazar had given his nephew was undone in a few hours. Accounts were changed once again, monies shifted, trusts opened and trusts closed. Leases and free holdings were checked and rechecked for legality and endless hours of conference were held with various lawyers both in Romania and in the US, with the assistance of Eleazar.

It was decided that Naj and two of her coven mates would travel with what was left of the Romanian royal family. Only a pair of bodyguards would travel with them personally. The rest of Raul's guard, and the other coven mates of Naj's would travel separately. Half would travel four hours prior, the other half four hours later. This was done so as to not arouse undue human attention to such a large group. It also negated having to book an entire flight for one group which would surely alert Kirkov to their movements.

Nobody, both in Romania and in the continental US, doubted that Ana's family was being watched. They removed themselves from within the castle walls in pairs, during the height of the noon sun, cloaked and protected as much as was possible. They met in an abandoned industrial building close to the airport and waited until their entire guard was assembled. For three days Raul, Amelia, Daria and Dom were unguarded in their own home then they too made their way to the airport.

The meeting with Naj was arranged via Eleazar and was set for the transit lounge of the airport on the day of departure.

By the time the two couples made their way through the terminal and towards that meeting airport they were confident that should they perish their land would continue to grow enough to feed the families who relied on it.

Not so confident, however, were they about the reception they were about to receive at the hands of the Coven Cullen.

**BPOV**

The powwow being held in Edward's office was worrying not only to me but to Renesmee and Seth too. Riley was their friend and was, potentially, going to be a big part of their future and mine.

During the short break mid morning my children sought me out, looking for reassurance that Emmett and Edward would help Riley. The arrival of Rose just as the morning tea bell sounded worried them as much as it did me. We sat, Nessa and Seth at one table, me at another in the student restaurant, and listened to the conversation being held on the other side of the school grounds.

I heard Nessa's tiny gasp of shock when Emmett made comment about Riley's appearance and then Seth's sigh of concern when the two men began to hear how Riley had not shifted or eaten human food for the past five days, since he'd come to the big house that last time.

Seth patted Nessa's back gently as they listened, whilst still maintaining the conversations around them with the humans who were unaware of the cloud we were all living under.

When the bell chimed for us to go back to classes the meeting hadn't yet finished, or come to any conclusion. There hadn't been any yelling and no recriminations or accusations made so we were all fairly sure that a solution could be found. I nodded at my children as they exited the restaurant and hoped they knew I meant for them to go about their day as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring. For just that one minute I'd have liked to have been able to read their minds as they made their way out into the throng of students.

Nessa looked so forlorn and Seth looked wound up tight. I longed to hug them both.

The best I could do was find Alice. Her classroom was beside mine so after the students had filed in, but before she'd started her class, I called to her softly knowing she'd hear.

She met me in the hall.

"You know I can't see anything," she whispered sadly.

"I know, I just thought I'd check, just in case a miracle had happened," I laughed half heartedly.

"Sorry sis," she patted my forearm. "At least they're discussing it, right? They aren't arguing or anything. Edward will sort it out and Emmett's not unwilling to compromise."

"Yeah," I mumble. "But what about Rosie?"

Alice's shrug was all the answer I was likely to get about that. We both knew that Rose was the obstacle, just as I had been when it was Nessa and Seth. We just had to hope that Rose would come to her senses a lot faster than I did. With less than three weeks until we needed to be in the clearing there was a lot more riding on Rosie's decision than there had been on mine.

**EPOV**

Riley was, all at once, shocked frightened and appalled at the sad tale we had to tell him. The coming fight was going to be a big one, as far as we could tell, and there was nothing anybody could do to stop it.

Riley, quite rightly, was terrified for Angel's safety and once Emmett saw that for himself he calmed a little. That this boy was so concerned with his daughter's safety hit him hard just like it did with Bella when we'd been going through this.

Rose on the other hand arrived with a clear agenda. This boy was to have nothing to do with her daughter until her child was old enough to make the decision to see him for herself. She made this very clear the instant she entered the office. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Angel had already made the choice and there was very little anyone else could do about it. She'd come to learn that, of course, much as Bella and I had with Seth.

After Rose had barked her demands she'd taken a good, long look at Riley.

She noted his sallow skin, his hollowing cheekbones and the agony etched on his face.

Watching Rose fold, as I'd watched Bella fold, was a shock and a comfort to me. My sister, for all her hardness, was a mother and a woman who hid her soft heart behind her sarcasm and distain. To watch the walls fall was an incredible sight. To be able to follow her thought processes as she changed her mind was a blessing.

Emmett was great with Riley after that. Just the right mix of concerned and stern. He set some boundaries for contact between his daughter and the boy but also conceded a hell of a lot too.

An awkward truce was made for the sake of the two who were suffering because they were apart. I could tell from Riley's thoughts that he was grateful and from Em's that he was terrified he'd negotiated without first having discussed any of it with Rosie.

Rosie, for her part, agreed with most of what Emmett laid down. She didn't want to be seen to be 'giving in' but she also saw the sense in what was said. She sat quietly throughout the whole discussion and only added her agreement at the end.

I had no doubt, that once my brother and sister got home, there would be fireworks, but I also knew that this was one more thing I could put away as 'sorted'.

Once it was settled that Riley would accompany Em home after school to visit with Angel, and Rose had gone back to the garage, we moved on to trying to convince the boy to bring his parents into the fold.

He argued valiantly but in the end he too could see the sense. It was decided that Em, Rose and Angel would accompany him home after his visit that afternoon and together they would inform his parents of what was happening and why.

By the time he left to rejoin his classmates he hadn't yet decided whether or not he would stand with us and fight or run with Angel if the chance presented itself. I could tell nothing from his thoughts other than he had a lot of thinking to do on it.

My brother and I watch him leave and then Emmett turns to me. "I can't have him in that clearing without his parents knowing. I won't do that to them," he says determinedly.

"I agree. I'll dig out his file, find out a bit about them. If there is anything significant, anything that will help you when you tell them I'll let you know before you leave today," I tell him.

"Yeah, fair enough," Em says. "I'm gonna head back to work too. See you tonight bro."

He holds his fist out for me and I bump it gladly. As he's making his way to the door I call him back. "Hey Em, you ever given any thought to what sort of gift would be needed to sneak up on me?"

His grin says more than his thoughts. Of course he's thought about it. "Yeah and until we met Smella I never thought I'd live to see it, why?"

I shrug noncommittally. "What Piper said on the phone earlier."

He smirks. "Incoming gift," he shrugged.

"Sounds like it."

He laughs all the way back to his office. Bastard.

**BPOV**

My afternoon speeds on and before I know it I'm kissing Nessa goodbye, again. I plan to make a quick stop at my parents house and then go on to Flick's before finally going home for a little bit.

Nessa clings to me but the promise of seeing her in just a few short hours makes her smile and go willingly with Seth for the short run home.

Dieter greets me at the door, haggard but a little brighter than he'd been the days prior.

"Her hearts about to give in," he announces as he drags me in through the front door and down the hall towards the bedroom. "It's really flying now."

I can hear it for myself long before I get to the bedroom. He's right, it's flying. So fast it's difficult to make out the individual beats. I take my cell from my pocket and dial Carlisle. "I'll call dad and get some advice," I tell Dieter as I head for the bed and begin to rub Flick down with the cool flannel cloth.

"How is she?" Carlisle asks by way of greeting.

"Burning up. Her hearts racing, dad, really flying. This is the end, isn't it?" I ask hopefully.

"Sniff her, tell me what you smell," he says sternly.

I do as he asks. "Venom. All I smell now is venom."

"Good, good. And her skin, what do you see?"

I turn toward the bedroom window and throw the drapes open wide, letting the late afternoon sun shine through in long, white streams. I smile when I see my friend in the sodden bed. "She's sparkling," I all but shout down the line.

"Excellent. Make her comfortable. Get her changed into something suitable for running and then prepare yourselves. Remember, she may be volatile and she'll definitely be hungry. Get her outside as soon as you can. Go deep into the forest Bella, as far away from human scents as you can, then let her have her head."

"I will. Thanks, dad."

"You're welcome. Just try and remember how you felt Bella, and remember how confused and off balance you were. You'll do just fine. I'll have some of our visitors get themselves out into the surrounding area, just to make sure," he tells me.

"Thanks. I'll call if something goes wrong," I tell him and hang up.

Knowing Dieter has heard the conversation I don't bother relaying the information and advice. He springs into action, a broad grin on his face, and brings clean clothes and running shoes to me at the bedside. "This is it?" he asks hesitantly.

"Looks like it, yeah," I tell him. "I'll get her changed and then you should sit with her. I'll be outside, call when you're ready to run."

I pat his shoulder before he leaves the room. I can remember, all too clearly, Edward changing me, bathing me, brushing my hair, before I awoke and think it's sweet that Dieter was still being gentlemanly with Flick, even at this late stage.

I knew, from Flick herself, that they hadn't slept together. I also knew that other than a few mildly heated kisses and the odd grope they'd agreed that they wouldn't consummate their relationship until after she'd been turned. Dieter didn't trust himself and Flick was frightened of his strength.

It made me smile while I combed out her now lustrous hair to think that in a few short hours my friend would rise and could truly be with her love. I told her so as I changed her into jeans and a clean cotton jersey.

She had always been a pretty girl, if a little plain, but now she was stunning. She had features now that would never again be remarked on as being plain. She was flawless and a whole new life awaited her.

I just hoped it wouldn't be short lived. This fight might just prove to be too much for the group we'd gathered this time.

**EPOV**

I met Seth and Nessa at the cottage and was disappointed to not see, or smell, Bella there. The three of us ran Nessa through her homework then headed up to the big house for more meetings – for me and Seth – and so that Nessa could meet the new arrivals too.

I'd been warned that there were new faces and names already there but nothing prepared me for the swirl of new scents as we approached.

A dozen, maybe more, vampires that I already knew were lounging on the back deck and we were greeted warmly as we came to the glass doors at the back of the house.

A dozen more were lolling about in the living room, still more were hanging over the kitchen counter watching Esme prepare Nessa and Angels evening meal and there were voices coming from the dining room, Carlisle's study and the front porch too.

"Darling!" Esme shouted as Nessa ran to her grandmother. "Come and meet our new friends." With a slight nod of her head she beckoned me forward, further into the kitchen to formally meet the three women who had now stood to their full height in expectation.

Ness, never one to stand on formality, raced forward hand held out. "Hello, I'm Nessa," she told the first startled guest.

"I am pleased to meet you Nessa, I am Alicia," the tall, dark haired woman told my enraptured daughter.

The next to step forward was a blonde haired, blue eyed woman with a thick European accent. "I am Maja," she announced quite formally as she shook my daughters hand.

Nessa moved toward the third woman and balked. She cocked her head to the side and stared, wide eyed at the woman, before turning to me. "I can't hear her, can you daddy?"

"No, I can't hear her either sweetheart," I tell Nessa as I step forward to introduce myself. I shake first Alicia's hand, then Maja's, and last of all I step toward the third woman. "I'm Edward Cullen and this is my daughter Renesmee, and you are?"

With a wide smile she takes my hand. "It is a great pleasure to finally meet the famous Edward Cullen. My name is Sabine Reynolds."

I shake her hand and try once again to 'hear' her.

She laughs heartily, as does Esme and I can hear my sister giggling from the next floor up too. "You won't be able to read me, Edward," she laughs.

I step away and Nessa comes to me, wrapping herself around my calf. "What is she daddy?" she whispers.

"Nessa," I scold. "Sabine is our new friend, she need be nothing else."

"Do I smell different to you Edward?" The woman asks, grinning.

I take a sniff, not wanting to be rude and take a huge pull of her scent. "Wolf?" I ask tentatively. Her scent is close to Seth's but closer to Riley's, but not wholly human either.

"Yes," she laughs. "But not the sort you are used to. We are members of the Territorial Army. Wolves, all, but from many different tribes and groups across the world."

"We?" I ask.

"There are dozens of us but myself, and my pack mate Thomas, are the advanced guard for want of a better term."

"Dozens?" I ask, incredulously. "You've come to scout what exactly?"

"You, basically." She retakes her seat at the counter and the other two women head off to other parts of the house, leaving us to talk. Esme perches Nessa onto another of the kitchen stools and returns to preparing her meal. "David told us that you were expecting some trouble here in a few weeks' time and thought that our services might be required. We're here to find out what we can about who exactly is coming for you and why."

"A Territorial Army?" I ask, still not sure what I am hearing and definitely not sure why I'm not hearing it from her brain. "And why can't I read you?"

She laughs. "Yes, a Territorial Army and you can't read me because I had a brain tumour removed as a child. I think its cut some pathways. At least that's what other vamps have told me over the years."

"You know others?"

"Sure. They're everywhere," she laughs. "And most of them are on their way here right now."

"So I've been told. Would it be alright if I invited our local wolf pack to come and meet you?" I asked hopefully.

She shrugged. "Sure. I think they already know we're here though. Your boy there shifted as he ran out the backdoor so I'm figuring he's just alerted his pack to our presence."

I hadn't noticed Seth leave, or shift. "Huh," I mumbled stupidly.

"Don't sweat it," Sabine laughed. "You got a lot on your mind. Now, what can you tell me about these Russian goons?"

**BPOV**

I heard Flick's heart give its last beat and then the soft sounds of her rising from three days of fiery hell as I stood in her front yard, behind a huge tree, and talked to my husband on my cell phone.

I rang off and moved closer to the house just in case she rose agitated or aggressive like everyone had expected me to.

Instead I was treated to twenty minutes of cooing and then the distinct sound of clothing being torn off followed by half an hour of sounds I couldn't get far enough away from.

I had to stay close in case something went wrong and she lashed out, but far enough away that I couldn't hear them, well, going at it. It was a fine line.

Eventually I heard Dieter calling for me and I gingerly went into the house. They were both dressed, thank god, and Flick looked good. Real good. Strong.

She rushed me, the instant I got inside the bedroom proper, and we both hit the floor with a resounding thump. I leapt up, ready to defend myself, but Dieter was already pulling Flick off me by her shoulders.

"What the hell?" I shouted as I rounded.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Flick laughed as she put her hands out to show me she meant no harm.

"Jesus, girl. You're strong, real strong right now." I told her as I dusted myself off out of habit.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" she asked as she crossed the room towards me.

By now I had worked out that she wasn't dangerous, just unsure of her strength as yet. "I'm fine," I laugh. "How are you feeling?"

Flick runs her hands down her face, over her chest and down her thighs as though she's taking stock of herself. "I think I'm good. Actually, no, I think I'm great."

Dieter, by this time, was tapping his foot against the carpet.

"How do you feel about a bit of a run?" I ask carefully.

Flick looks to Dieter who nods and smiles then turns to me. "Run? Me? I've never run anywhere in my life," she laughs. "And what's with my voice?"

"You'll get used to it," I laugh. "And yeah, a run. You should, um, feed."

Her hand flew to the base of her throat just as I remembered doing after my change and I felt so sorry for the agony that she was going to be forced to live with from now on. "Feed," she whispers. "I guess you mean I need to learn to hunt, is that right?" she looks to Dieter who nods encouragingly. "Well then, I guess you'd better show me how it's done because I'm guessing that tucking into a burger isn't gonna get rid of this hunger, is it?"

"I'm afraid not, no. But don't worry, we'll be right beside you and we have friends and family all over the forest by now who will be there to help if you need it," I tell her as her hand once again returns to her throat.

"Really? Out there? More, um, vampires?" she all but whispers as she stares out of the bedroom window and out into the backyard.

I move to her slowly so I don't startle her and put a hand on her waist. "It's okay Flick. Nobody is going to hurt you, I promise. They're all family, or friends of the family, and you met them all just a few days ago yourself. Remember, Edward and I told you, you're family now and we won't let any harm come to you."

Dieter comes to her other side and slides his hand into hers. "I've trusted this group with my life more than once and I know that you can trust them with yours. Run with us. Hunt with us."

With a brief nod of her head she lets us lead her outdoors and into the yard. With the sun streaming through the trees I watch with pride as Flick sways her forearm this way and that and takes in the new glimmer of her skin. I lead us off at a slow jog and wait for the pair to catch me up at the tree line.

As I knew she would Flick took to running like, well, a vampire to running. Within seconds she was bounding through the trees like a seasoned professional.

She was going to be just fine. My friend had borne the change and was going to be just fine.

**EPOV**

By the time Bella joined us in the big house that night I'd met Thomas, the other half of the scouting party sent by the Territorial Army of wolves and had met Alicia's mate Marco and learned that they were acquaintances of David's who had travelled all the way from Peru to help us.

I'd been introduced to Maja's mate Elias and their coven mates Fillip and Rebeka and found that my guess had been partially correct. They _were_ from Europe, Sweden to be precise, and they too were known to David.

Another quartet had joined us by this time too. A group of French vampires had arrived in the early evening and another round of introductions had been made. Enzo, his mate Lucie and another mated pair called Thomas and Zoe, swelled our numbers to the point where some of our more regular guests went to their various safe houses, rental properties and hotels to give us some room to indoctrinate the new comers and also so there'd be enough room in the dining room to add them to our war map and to learn their various talents and skills.

There wasn't a lot of time to get to know each other but they seemed to all understand that there would be time for that once their gifts had been catalogued and suitable places had been found for them on the battlefield.

Alicia turned out to have the unique talent of being able to kinetically absorb energy. She could take the power of the sun and turn it to a blinding heat. Wind, rain and lightening could all be harnessed by the tiny girl and turned into a physical power she could use to protect herself and anyone standing near to her during battle. The only drawback seemed to be that the power she drew on had to be readily available at the time. During a storm she could utilise the power of thunder or lightening, but only during the time of the storm. With no way to predict what the weather was going to be for the timeline we had we kept her gift 'up our sleeve' just in case we got lucky.

Maja's gift was also unique. She was a summoner. She could mentally summon another vampire over any distance. The 'summoned' heard her call in their brain and could use it as a beacon to return to where she was. Her power was quantifiable like Alistair's was. He could find anyone so long as he'd met them in person before he tried. Maja also had to have physically met her intended target before the summoning worked. Jasper was particularly eager to begin working on how to use this gift to our advantage in a fight.

Nessa was particularly taken with Lucie. She had an eidetic memory. Total recall and as an added bonus she had a photographic memory too. Nessa was fascinated and the two girls sat for hours discussing both the differences between them and the similarities.

I was sitting with a group of men trying to transcribe the tiny pieces of new information we had to hand about Kirkov when Bella arrived. Her scent still sang to me, even after her change. I leapt to my feet, dislodging the paperwork in front of me, and tore out of the house to meet her at the tree line.

I kiss her hard and pull her to me, grateful to have her with me again.

"I've missed you," I tell her as I take a long pull into her hair.

She winds her fingers into my hair and pulls my mouth to her throat. "I've missed you too."

"I want you," I tell her.

"God Edward, I want you too," she hisses.

I drag my teeth lightly up her flawless skin and revel in the shiver I win. "Our friend has risen?" I ask as I take her pale flesh into my mouth.

She moans hoarsely and moulds herself to me. "She's fantastic," she whimpers and I spread my venom across her throat.

"They're approaching, aren't they?" I laugh as I begin to hear first Dieter's thoughts, then Felicity's.

"They are," she giggles. "Can I have a raincheck?" she asks as I disentangle our lower bodies.

"Definitely," I tell her with one last kiss.

Our friends burst through the trees within seconds of us moving apart, but Dieter's thoughts tell me our little reunion wasn't as quiet as I'd hoped it to be.

Felicity looked good. Strong. In control. And not unlike my Bella had that first day after her change. They amazed me, these women. My own change had been a struggle right from the off. My thirst, new found strength I couldn't control, the urge to hunt, to run, to fight. But these women made what I'd gone through look like a mere rebellion rather than the huge change in lifestyle it had been for me.

Perhaps it was that they'd chosen this for themselves? Maybe Jasper's theories were right. These two girls had _chosen_ this for themselves. They weren't forced, they weren't dying at the time and their transformations had been surrounded by supportive and encouraging loved ones. They'd had all the information to hand about what they were to become and what it would mean for them. Maybe that was the key?

As Felicity approached her thoughts turned to me. Would I approve of her choice? Did I approve of her and Dieter as a couple? Would she still be able to work at the school, and for me? Would I ever trust her to be around the children? Could she curb her thirst enough to be able to?

"Your choice was yours Felicity. Take some time off, a few months maybe, then come back and _you_ decide for yourself if you wish to continue working for _me."_ I tell her with a smile.

I wasn't prepared for her to rush at me, and there had been no clue in her thoughts, but I could tell she meant no harm after the first split second so I let her take me to the ground as she lunged.

"Thank you, boss. Thank you so much," she shouted as she hugged me, hard.

"You're welcome, I think," I laugh as Bella began to growl.

As we stood Dieter approached me, hand out. I took his and we shook. "Thank you for allowing this."

"I didn't allow anything, Dieter. To parrot my daughter, I'm not the boss of you," I laugh.

"Perhaps not," he laughed, "but we both know that had you not sanctioned this 'change' it wouldn't have happened."

I didn't know any such thing but left his words hanging there. "Are you well Felicity?" I asked instead.

"You guys ask that a lot, huh?" she asked as she straightened her shirt. "And yeah, I feel amazing, thanks boss."

"I think, when we're not at the school you can just call me Edward," I tell her with a smile.

"Nah, I think you'll just be boss," she giggled, which set Bella off too.

"As you wish. What are your plans now, then?" I ask carefully.

Quite often the change itself is as far as anyone can plan. It's a lot to come to terms with and what would happen 'after' was often the furthest from anyone's thoughts.

With a quick look to her new 'mate' Felicity turned to me with a serious expression. "Dieter's going to teach me to fight and once we've sorted out the Russians we're going to Germany until we've both got our thirsts under control. After that we're coming back here and I'm coming back to work. If that's alright with you two?"

"It is a good plan, right?" Dieter asked me hesitantly.

It seemed as though I was to be deferred to in almost all things at the moment so I nodded encouragingly. "It is, a fine plan. We'll miss you here, but I think that's a great plan."

"Good. So, I guess you better introduce me to all those weird smelling vamps up there, huh?" Felicity laughed as she nodded toward the big house.

"Weird smelling vamps," I mutter as our little group began to make its way up the yard. "There aren't just _vamps_ up there ladies, but don't worry, there aren't any humans."

"I can smell Seth, but who else?" Bella asked as she took my hand.

"Ahh, it seems we've made some new friends my love. Come on, you're going to love Sabine."

**BPOV**

Edward was right. I did love Sabine. She was so full of life and fun and apart from her odd smell, which wouldn't take long to get used to, she fit right in. Thomas was more reserved and seemed more interested in learning all he could about the coming fight than Sabine who just seemed to want to meet everyone she could and work out where we all fit.

Lucie was lovely too, and her accent was seriously cool. Nessa loved her, on sight I'd been told, and Maja and Alicia had made fast friends with everyone too.

Flick slid right into the group as though she'd been changed decades ago rather than days. She knew all of the women in our family of course, but she didn't hesitate when she was introduced to the others, the men included. Dieter was attentive to her as she moved from room to room with me. There were so many new faces and names and I did giggle a little to myself now and then when I thought back on how confusing it was for me that first time when the big house filled up with so many new vampires. I even had a bit of a laugh with Alice when I suggested she break out her 'wall chart' she'd offered to make for me way back when.

Flick excused herself, Dieter in tow, only once during the early hours of the evening to go and slake her thirst, but they came right back to the big house after. Alice giggled when she removed a stray twig from Flick's hair but said nothing, thank heaven, about whatever else the pair had gotten up to in the forest besides hunting.

It made me think of my first few months after being changed and all the hours Edward and I had spent 'hunting' in the woods.

Of course that made me want to go home to the cottage. I tried to wait for a suitable time to extract Edward from his war map and the back and forth of his very serious discussions, but there never seemed to be a right time.

Just when I thought I could legitimately go into the dining room during a lull in the conversation one of the other men would pipe up with another 'theory' and off they'd go again.

I waited patiently for Nessa to show some sign of getting tired. A yawn or a stretch, but that didn't come either.

Seth and the rest of the pack had long gone home to the Rez for 'battle plan' talks so I couldn't use him as an excuse either.

Marching into the dining room and demanding my husband take me home to ravish me after a long three days apart was starting to sound like a good idea when Alice scowled at me. There was no way she'd have been able to see my intention with Sabine and Thomas in situ so I sidled up to her on the sofa and asked, very quietly, what her problem was?

She cocked her head in Jaz' direction but said nothing.

I followed her gaze and saw Jaz sitting in the single seat to my left, a cheeky, almost lecherous grin on his face, smiling back at me.

Ahhh. Jaz had felt my longing and had 'given' it to Alice who had put two and two together and had come up with Edward and I.

"Go home, Bella," Alice whispered conspiratorially. "Nessa can stay here tonight; I'll make sure she has a bath before bed."

"Yeah, I think I might just do that," I giggle and hug my sister hard. "Goodnight everyone," I say, trying hard to keep the laughter out of my voice as I do. I kiss my daughter on the top of her head and let her hug me tight before she happily returns to her conversation with Lucie.

'Goodnights' came back to me from all corners of the house as I made my way into the dining room. Edward looked up, a confused look on his face.

"Is Nessa tired already?" he asked.

"Not in the least, but we _are_ going home now, Edward."

"You two go on ahead, I'll follow as soon as we've worked out this part," he tells me, tapping the sheaf of papers in front of him on the table.

"No, Edward," I tell him sternly. "You and I are going home _now. _Nessa is sleeping here tonight._"_

"Oh, is she?" he asks, confused.

"She is. So we are going home now. You and me. No children."

"Right gents, I'm off. See you tomorrow," he all but shouts as he shoves the papers across the table to Randall. "You sort that out and I'll see what you've come up with then. Night all."

We were gone, out the backdoors and into the yard before Randall had a chance to say anything racy or snide. We didn't look back either.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Thank you to all those who hung in there with me while I got this mother up and running again. **

**It's onward and upward toward this war now. **

**Thanks for reading, please review.**


	40. Chapter 29 - Back to the story

Chapter 29 – As the War turns

**BPOV**

For two days nobody new arrived and I could tell that Edward was getting worried that these were to be our final numbers.

Of course we still had no idea just how many we were to face but I think that everyone who'd been present the first time around knew that this foe knew by now exactly what our numbers had been last time and he knew exactly how to thwart us if we ran with just that many a second time.

The planning continued but by this point it was all just theory and speculation. We had no real new information about Kirkov and who or what he was bringing with him so the planning just became about contingencies rather than strategies.

The only vampires we knew for certain who were still to join us were Daria and Raul and nobody – besides Eleazar – was convinced that was going to be any help, and the Egyptians, New Zealanders and possibly the English coven. We'd had word from Egypt and from New Zealand but no reply from messages left with the English so there was no way to tell if they'd come or not. We could only hope.

It was a crap shoot really. After having lost Charles it wouldn't have been surprising that the two remaining girls in England would stay right where they were and leave us to our own fate. It had been Carlisle who'd contacted Olivia and other than having left a message there was no way to tell what their intentions were.

Knowing that Benjamin and Amun, as well as their mates, were planning to arrive was a bright light despite knowing how Amun felt about Renesmee. We needed all the numbers we could muster, regardless of their personal feelings about the hybrids among us. God only knew what Amun would think of Angel when he met her.

Naj and her coven were the last unknown entity. Nobody knew anything about Naj, including Eleazar. I was the only one who thought that was odd. Okay, maybe odd was the wrong word for it, but it definitely wasn't high on the Eleazar scale of normal.

He didn't know where she actually lived, how many there were in her coven or even if she had a gift. Nobody questioned how she'd learned of Kirkov's intentions and I didn't think that anyone had even bothered to ask how the knowledge had come to her. That struck me as significant but he wouldn't be pressed on it, instead he would shrug and just say that most 'older' vampires kept to themselves.

I asked Peter about it but he agreed with Eleazar. He told me that for centuries vampires had been deliberately elusive. They didn't want other vamps to know they existed and took very seriously how they guarded their gifts, and their assets. I argued that there was no need to be that way now, not with us, when Naj was coming to help and had been instrumental in letting us know that a threat even existed but even Peter wouldn't be swayed. Older vamps kept to themselves. That was the end of it.

Personally I didn't buy it but nobody would listen to me and I was forced to let it go.

One bright spark for me in amongst the angst in the various houses that contained vampires was Flick. Sure she struggled with her thirst and she was terrified to go out without Dieter, or me, at her side. But she was managing just fine.

I helped her get a grip – literally – on her strength and Dieter helped her get used to her hearing, eyesight and speed. We ran and ran through the forest. Sometimes just the two of us, sometimes the three of us and sometimes in much bigger groups.

We even managed to convince Edward to put away his maps and pages of notes for an afternoon and simply enjoy a run with us for the sake of a run. It was great fun, very freeing to be away from the big house and the school where things just seemed to be getting more and more complicated as the hours ticked over.

Seth became more and more worried and the more he tried to hide it from us the more obvious it became. His appetite waned and in turn so did Nessa's. They continued on at school with a brave face but they stuck closer together than ever before. There had been a few instances of gossip that caused Seth to almost lose his temper when some of his classmates asked why he was hanging out so much with a little girl.

He caught himself in time and none of us had to ever step in but I knew that at some point he could lose his temper. Edward did too so we all kept a close eye on the situation.

But on that one run, the one that almost everyone who was around joined us on, it was as though there was nothing that could make us sad or hurt us or bother us as we ran. There was no hunting we just ran for the fun of it. We had races and made bets. Flick challenged all comers to take her on and quite often she won hands down. Except for when Edward took her on. He was still the fastest of us all.

We swam late in the afternoon in the river behind the big house and I cleaned up with the newbies who hadn't been there for the first fight and who didn't know that my speciality was still the water, despite my by now non-newborn status.

The pack joined us once the garage was closed and then it was a dozen wet, shaggy wolves in the water and on the riverbank as well as fifty odd vampires and two very giggly hybrid little girls.

That night a huge bonfire was lit at the Rez and everyone who was anyone, including my parents, gathered there to let our hair down even further. The wolves barbequed and the vampires talked long into the night.

Every now and then I had to force myself to remember that this wasn't going to last. We were still facing a huge fight and at any time this freedom, these little luxuries, were once again going to stop for us. But for that one day and night it was paradise.

Edward took our little family home and once Nessa and Seth were both snoring we stole into the forest to be alone. There was no morbidity yet. There was no sadness, no regrets inside our shared communication while we made love. For now there was still the utter bliss of being together, being in love and being able to be together that way.

The seemingly stalled preparations for the war map ended on that Friday evening when Riley arrived at the big house with his parents in tow.

Emmett and Rose had met with them a few days prior and even though it hadn't been easy they'd convinced the shifter family to come and at least meet the rest of us. It didn't take a genius, or a mind reader, to work out just how uncomfortable they were with us at first.

I guess we were pretty intimidating. Especially with the numbers that crowded into the living room to meet them. I was as fascinated by them as everyone else. I hadn't had all that much to do with Riley so, like everyone else, I wanted to learn more about shifters in general. That we only had this trio to learn from intimidated them.

Riley was the best acquainted with the family so it fell to him to help them understand where we all fit but he'd never encountered most of the others so it was Edward who took them around the house to meet everyone. There was no way they were going to remember everyone but they tried valiantly.

After the introductions and Esme had plied them all with food and drink they settled in the dining room with Edward, Jaz, Em and Peter to talk about what was coming and what it meant.

I took Nessa and Seth home at eleven and knew that it would be hours before Edward joined us. I set the house to rights once again and once the children were sleeping soundly I settled in the little study and planned out the next two weeks of lessons. Anything to keep my mind off what was coming.

**EPOV**

Eve and William Stone, Riley's parents, were stunned and shocked in equal measure at meeting everyone who'd gathered so far. To them the idea of a 'fight' had meant four or five against four or five, not two hundred against two hundred.

Of course nobody knew exactly how many were going to be present, on either side, but the war map was already huge and I still held a slim hope that it could grow a little more before the actual fight.

Mr and Mrs Stone were easy enough to read but very hard to convince. They wanted Riley to have nothing to do with any of us, especially Angel, and definitely wanted nothing to do with the coming fight.

It had taken some doing, and Nessa showing them via her gift what had happened at the last fight, before they understood the enormity of what was coming. They didn't like it but they accept it was coming in the end.

Carlisle and I explained as best we could what imprinting was but they struggled with it and refused to totally accept the concept. Neither of them truly believed us and even though myself and Bella were proof, as were Nessa and Seth, it didn't count for much to them. Both Rose and Emmett had a go at telling their story but again they simply couldn't see what imprinting was. To them Rosie's story was just that, a story.

As far as they were concerned Bella and I were simply a married couple and Nessa and Seth were like brother and sister. They knew that Riley was ill but they honestly believed he would recover if he stayed away from Angel, and us, long enough.

In the end it was Sam who convinced them of what we were trying to tell them.

He called Emily who arrived with Leah in tow and together they explained the complicated triangle that had engulfed the three of them so many years ago.

Eve had been horrified to learn that Sam himself had caused Emily's facial scarring and equally as horrified to learn that he'd promised himself to Leah only to leave her and marry Emily because of the imprinting process.

Esme took them aside and told them how I'd lived after I met Bella in the hospital when she'd been small. I could hear every word of course, but even now that I had her and we were married it still hurt to be in Esme's head as she relived what it had been like for me.

Eventually Eve had broken and she'd been the one to convince William that they should give Riley his chance. Rose and Em sat with them that night and between the five of them – Riley as an adult had a say of course, even though his parents were paying for his tuition and thought that gave them a say in what he did while he was still in their care – they made plans.

Mostly they just reinforced the rules that Rosie and Emmett had set with Riley two days before but now Riley's parents were onboard and understood what it all meant.

This made Angel happy and in turn Riley began to feel a little better about the whole situation. The fight was still his main concern, but his angst at being kept apart from Angel had abated by the time the Stone family set off for their own home that night.

The next morning Jaz, Peter and I were once again staring bleakly at the war map when a group of new scents and mental voices came towards the big house.

"Incoming," I told the house and before long we were welcoming a new coven into the fold.

The new arrivals had come all the way from South Africa and they brought with them information about Kirkov's coven.

Demarco, the leader of the coven and the only male, had once been part of Kirkov's guard himself during a brief period three hundred years earlier. He'd left because of the brutality meted out by Kirkov himself and considered himself lucky to have been 'allowed' to leave when he did.

He returned to his native South Africa and took a mate, Puleng, and never looked back. That had been in the early 1800's and since then he'd turned two other women, Olona and Babalo. Olona had tried to create a mate for herself some decades ago but her lover had not borne the change and had perished. Since then she'd vowed to remain alone. Babalo had made no such vow to herself and I read from her thoughts that this will be one of her only opportunities to meet male vampires outside of South Africa for perhaps another hundred years. She was eager to meet someone and maybe escape the poverty of her native lands.

I told nobody what I'd read from her as the new coven were introduced around. Alice would enlist Charlotte who would pull in Melinda who would drag Bella and probably Nessa too into an elaborate match making spiral from which nobody would benefit.

They may have succeeded in getting Randall and Kate to the altar in quick time but they had fallen for each other conventionally, the meddling at the end had only sped up the process, not brought it about.

We had to concentrate on the fight before any thoughts could be set to who might possibly be right for whom.

Demarco joined the men in the dining room and we took detailed notes about what he remembered from his dealings with Kirkov in the past and what he knew to be true now. Whilst it was true that it had been three hundred years give or take since Demarco had last laid eyes on Kirkov he had had contact with two members of the current guard as recently as two months ago.

This didn't sit well with me, or Peter.

"Why would you still have contact with anyone in Kirkov's band of merry marauders?" Peter asked rather indelicately.

"Their names are Marcov and Nic," Demarco sighed sadly. I knew, from his thoughts, before he began to speak, that this was going to be an awful tale. "Marcov was my first child. Kirkov made me turn him in 1692 because he was a tracker even as a human and Kirkov had no tracker of his own. Marcov was a good boy, just seventeen, and his family relied on his god given talents to make a living for them all. People in the village where he lived paid to have loved ones found who had been hurt or lost and Marcov never failed to find them, dead or alive he always returned with them. Kirkov didn't care that the family needed him and threatened that if I didn't turn Marcov he'd kill everyone in Marcov's family and then turn him himself so he'd suffer forever. I did as I was bid even though I knew I was condemning the family to a life of poverty. The day after Marcov woke from his change Kirkov sent two guards to slaughter the family anyway. He said it was cleaner that way and that Marcov would now have no desire to ever go against his new master."

The poor man was almost on his knees by the time he'd explained his harrowing story and the women in the house were openly sobbing when he finished. I was sorry that my own girls had had to hear the tale but knew the information would ram home just what sort of evil we were dealing with this time.

This fight wasn't about right or wrong, a perceived illegal pairing or even about revenge on Ana's behalf. This fight was about violence and power for the sake of violence and power.

"And the other?" Peter asked more gently this time.

"The other is Nic and he truly is my son."

The statement was a simple one but after a few seconds reading from the poor man's thoughts I began to understand that this wasn't the kind of vampiric 'father son' relationship we were used to. Nic really was Demarco's son. His natural son.

"They don't understand," I tell Demarco softly and nod my encouragement so he'll explain further for the benefit of the others.

"I am Nic's father. His real father. I was human when he was born. I was married to, and very much in love with, his mother. I was turned by Kirkov himself when he learned what my gift was and Nic's mother was slaughtered in cold blood whilst I burned through my change. This is Kirkov's way. He believes this is 'cleaner'. That if someone is changed against their will it is smart to cut all ties they might have to any humans so there is nothing left to live for. But with me he made a mistake. I did have someone to live for. Nic. My son. He was twelve when I was turned and luckily was away with my parents in law at the time so Kirkov didn't know he existed until much later." The sadness and regret in his voice matched that in his thoughts.

This man had spent near on three hundred years living with the regrets brought about at the hand of Kirkov. If anything this one man had more to gain from ousting Kirkov than anyone else in the house ever had. Kirkov might be threatening me personally, and by extension my family, but Demarco had suffered immeasurable pain at Kirkov's hand and in his mind he believed it was time to stop the suffering. Everyone's suffering. Not just his. But the suffering caused to hundreds of families over the centuries. Stolen children turned for amusement, some with gifts but most without. Kirkov coveted anyone and everything. If he saw something he wanted he took it. If that happened to be a child he took that too.

I had no wish for the women in the house to learn all that I was now privy to after listening to Demarco's thoughts so I didn't press for him to add anything further regarding his dealings with Kirkov, but I was interested in what sort of gift would make Kirkov go to these lengths to have Demarco by his side.

"Would you be interested in adding your gift to our registry?" I asked carefully. "It might be able to help us plan this better," I added after reading his first initial thoughts on being 'documented'.

"It won't be of any use. Kirkov found this out the hard way," he grinned.

"Still, it might work well in tandem with someone elses. It's completely up to you though, we understand if you'd rather remain silent on this."

He thought on it for just one moment and then smiled. "I can do that. If it will help end him I will do it." He laughed then, heartily, and I wondered why. I didn't have to wait long. "My nickname in my home land is Dolly," he chuckled. "You know, like the dolphin? I click my tongue, like this," he made a strange clacking noise with his tongue and palate. "I can tell the distance between the click and the target. Like a dolphin."

"Echolocation," Jasper whispered. "That's brilliant. Come and take a look at some of the other gifts here and let's plot where you'll be needed most."

That, it seemed, sealed it. He was eager to help and whilst I couldn't fathom what his particular gift would help us achieve it seemed as though both Jaz and Peter did so I left them to it.

**BPOV**

I wanted to question Demarco about Naj but didn't get a chance as another new group arrived hot on the heels of the South Africans. This group would turn ours on its head.

Edward had come to find Nessa and me upstairs and we were happily chatting away with Zaffy and Lucie when every wolf in the house began to shiver and shake. One after another they jumped up from whatever they'd been doing and began to run through the house towards the front door.

Edward was on his feet in the same instant and doing his best to calm Seth, Sam and Paul who seemed to be the most affected by whatever, or whoever, had just arrived.

The whole pack began to howl, indoors, which frightened the shit out of me and set both Nessa and Angel to wailing.

"Outside," Edward barked at the three wolves closest to him and within seconds there were thirteen huge wolves facing off across from twenty or so wolves in the driveway.

"Stay inside," I shouted to both Nessa and Angel as I flew down the stairs behind Edward and out into the yard.

Everyone present beat us to it as we'd had to come from the top floor of the house and by the time our feet hit the gravel drive an uneasy standoff was in progress.

Edward approached Sam first. "Stand down Sam. They aren't a threat," he told a frantically pacing Sam. Edward moved between the two groups and just as I was about to shout out to him to come away he began to talk very softly to the huge grey wolf standing at the front of the other group. "Sabine, call your group off. You should've warned us you were calling the rest of your pack into the area."

The grey wolf backed up, followed by the first two lines of her pack, and then calmly sat on her haunches on the stones.

"Sam, this is the rest of the Territorial Army. They mean no harm, they phased and travelled as wolves because it was quicker, not to make a show of force," Edward told Sam who did as Sabine did.

He backed up, sat on his haunches and nudged both Seth and Paul in turn so that they did the same. The rest of the pack followed but it looked far more begrudging than Sabine's pack had.

"One of you is going to have to phase back," Edward chuckled as he looked from one Alpha to the next.

It wasn't Sam who phased back to his human form though, it was Seth. I couldn't help the cry of worry that came out of my throat and as soon as he'd shaken himself and pulled on some shorts – that Esme had very cleverly run to collect while the rest of us were panicking – he stepped forward and stood beside Edward.

He was so bloody brave. I was proud and scared all at the same time.

"He's right you know," Seth told the grey wolf. "If one of you doesn't phase back we can't communicate. Our packs aren't linked."

It was Sabine who phased first from her pack and then there she was, buck naked, standing in front of my husband and son. Charlotte giggled and Carlisle snarled at her just low enough that she shut up quick smart. Had he not done it I would have.

Seth ventured toward Sabine and held out his hand. They'd met, of course, but I was guessing this was a show of good faith and Sabine shook his hand without reservation.

"Good to see you again," Seth told her.

"Sorry, I didn't think. We've never met another pack that had territory before. My bad," she shrugged as her pack began to slowly phase back, one after the other.

Our pack did too, but much slower. It was though, from an outsider's point of view, they weren't sure whether to let everyone phase back until the last of Sabine's pack were fully human. Keeping the upper hand I guessed.

"It's cool," Seth said nonchalantly. "Wanna introduce us?"

"Sure. You know Thomas and the rest, in order there, are Luke, Nate, Nick, Patrick, Connor, Tam and the others are just rabble," she laughed.

Sam now stepped forward and shook Sabine's hand and then all the tension just seemed to melt away. The vampires went back inside and the wolves stayed outside, my husband between them, and started planning.

I didn't like it, not one bit. But Edward told me to go back inside and see to the children and I didn't have the balls to tell him to get the women some fucking clothes before they all started war talks.

I sulked all the way back to the top floor thinking about how fucking perfect Sabine was underneath her usual jeans and jersey.

**EPOV**

I'd had no idea that Sabine was the Alpha of her pack, or army as they preferred to be called. Nobody else had either so I didn't feel too stupid for not having known, or thought to ask.

It had amused me that Bella had been seemingly uneasy with the woman's nudity, I would cash in on that later I hoped. But for now, with the two packs still standing across from each other I thought it wise to just leave them be, as they were, and let them come to any agreement they could live with.

I backed up and took a seat on the bottom step. I could see them, and read them all and could intercept any violence in a millisecond should I need to.

But that never came about and in the end it was very simply resolved.

The Quileute pack didn't want the Territorial Army on its land and the Territorial Army had no interest in going onto it. The two packs would work together, at the big house, but when the Quileute's went home the Army were to stay here, or at the very least, away from the Rez and its boundaries.

Once everyone had agreed to that the two packs got down to business and pretty soon we had three dozen – now fully dressed – wolves in our dining room looking over the war map.

The afternoon was spent moving post it notes from one side of our imaginary clearing to the other as the two packs strategized. Brady's loss was foremost in the Quileute members mind and none of them wanted a repeat loss this time around. I totally agreed so took a backseat as they worked out how best to help us and prevent that.

When it was time to take my family home that evening it was a very quiet Bella who ran down the path with me. She held my hand, sure, but she said nothing and couldn't quite meet my eyes.

I knew what this was about – Sabine and Tam's nudity - but kept my mouth firmly shut while the children were with us.

I got Nessa through her shower and into her pyjamas while Bella cooked a meal and Seth finished up some of his homework. The children chatted amiably through the meal and then settled down to watch some idiotic cartoon on the television leaving Bella and I to pace around each other in the little cottage.

She spoke, though very little, and only what was absolutely necessary to say. She avoided eye contact with me and by the time it was suitably late enough for the children to be bedding down for the night we were like two lions facing off.

"Listen for Nessa, Seth? Bella and I need to hunt," I asked of Seth as he began to slide down into his bed.

"Sure, sure," he mumbled.

I found Bella in the study looking over class notes and as I approached the desk I held out my hand to her. "Shall we?" I asked with a big grin.

She didn't hesitate to put her hand into mine and we flew out of the back doors and into the forest at a good clip.

I began to slow as we approached the river but Bella tugged my hand and steered us West, away from the water and back towards town.

"Where are we heading?" I asked as we ran.

"Just run," she hissed and I decided to shut up a little longer.

Within minutes we were on the trail that led to the meadow and I knew then that she wasn't angry. She was jealous and horny. Half your luck Edward I thought to myself as we sped along the track.

I kept my laughter inside and allowed her to lead me to where she needed me to be. That turned out to be the base of the tree with our initials carved in it. She said nothing as she pulled me and placed me there, back to its trunk.

"Hold onto it, don't let it go," she hissed as she tore my shirt from throat to waist.

I did as I was told and put my hands up above my head and held onto the trunk of the tree. I wanted, desperately, to ask what the matter was even though I knew it wasn't an angry Bella who was punishing me; rather it was a possessive Bella who was going to ravish me. So I kept my big mouth shut tight.

My jeans were the next to go. She slit each seam from crotch to ankle and tore them off my body. My boxers all but disintegrated as she reefed them from me. With barely a second to register just how hard I was already she was on her knees and I was engulfed by the warm confines of her beautiful mouth.

"Christ Bella," I moaned as she began to suck hard. She licked and sucked, slurped and groaned as I whimpered pathetically. "Slow down, baby," I begged but she wouldn't have it.

She let go of me only long enough to demand that I 'cum now, damn you' and if asked I'd be embarrassed to say that the instant the word _cum_ fell from her lips I exploded into her waiting mouth.

Obviously satisfied with having marked her territory Bella rose to her feet. I brought my arms down only to be hissed at to put them back. I did. Fast.

**BPOV**

I was so out of control.

He was _mine_ and I'd had hours to seethe about him having spent seventy-eight minutes in the drive with two naked women. I knew and understood why he had but I didn't care.

I needed to reclaim him, however ridiculous that was.

I strip off my clothing and stand before him totally naked myself. "You're mine," I hiss into his astonished face before I wrap myself around his body.

I bit, kissed, licked and sucked his glorious pale skin and rubbed myself on him like a cat marking its territory.

"I am. Bella I'm all yours," he insisted but I wasn't coherent enough to register the words, only hearing him speak.

I gave him no time to try to get through to me. I clasped his wrists with one hand and with the other I dug my fingers into his hip and dragged him to the ground with me. I had him prone, on his back and inside me in seconds.

'_Holy fucking hell,' _I heard him think as I began to ride him.

'Oh yeah, baby, you better believe it,' was all I could think of to reply.

I ground myself down onto him harder and harder and with each movement I got closer and closer to my prize.

The closer I got the harder he thrust upwards, impaling me on his length until I was both breathless and mindless with need.

His fingers dug into my hips, his knees clamped my thighs hard up against his and his mouth never stopped.

"Mine, mine, mine," he chanted, out loud. '_All fucking mine,'_ he chanted in his mind.

When the explosion of pure ecstasy hit me it burst inside me like a white hot light. I saw stars and felt Edward go with me. Together we tumbled over the edge of the abyss and together we rode the wave of pleasure.

He pulled me to him and I collapsed onto his chest. "I love you Isabella," he whispered as he kissed me.

"And I love you Edward, always," I told him back.

We crept home that night. We hid behind trees and sped through the forest when Edward was sure that there wasn't anyone within hearing, or seeing, distance. Totally naked, our clothing ruined and hidden behind the big rocks that bordered the meadow, we raced home. We showered as quietly as possible and hid in the serenity of our marital bed until dawn when Nessa and Seth both woke up hungry as usual.

That Sunday Edward and I grinned at each other constantly. Alice poked fun at us. Emmett ragged on us and Esme winked at me but none of them had any idea what we'd done the night before, or why.

Edward hadn't asked what my motivation was for all but raping my own husband and I'd not said a word. I knew he knew just as he knew I knew he knew. If that makes any sense. To us it didn't matter that it had all gone unsaid.

He was mine, I was his and there could be a hundred and two naked women in the driveway today and that would still be the truth.

**EPOV**

All day long we'd shared secret looks and once I'd even managed to corner my delicious wife in the seclusion of the pool house and kiss her breathless. Of course she didn't actually need to breathe, but still, my point had been made.

I was as possessive of her as she was of me and no amount of teasing from my nearest and dearest would wipe the smile off my face after last night.

She knew I knew why she'd done it and that's all that mattered. She didn't need to say it and I didn't need to say I understood.

A hundred naked women could magically appear on the steps of the big house and I'd only ever still have eyes for Bella and she knew it.

We were all eagerly awaiting what we had termed the 'Siberian Russians' – which included our informant Naj – so it came as a complete shock that the seven vampires who cautiously approached the big house were actually Americans and not Russians or Romanians.

I knew this right off because the thoughts I could hear were always complete with accents and these were Americans through and through.

"Incoming," I announced for the fourth time in as many days to the house at large.

This time the children knew to stay indoors, preferably upstairs while the new arrivals were greeted and vetted. The women, however, all came to the landings and spilled down the stairs to get a look at our new guests.

One woman and six men stood in the foyer gawking at us just as we were gawking at them. That they lived inside the US and we'd never heard of them was fascinating to not only me.

Carlisle, being closest to the door, ushered them in and began the lengthy introductions. From this I learned that this was not one coven but three.

The woman, Ruth, was head of a trio of three vampires from Las Vegas. Benny and Carey, her coven mates, were as quiet and reserved as Senna and Kachiri were. Ruth was most definitely in charge of this small group. She was also gifted with the most extraordinary ability to 'see' through us all. She didn't make us invisible she actually could see inside us.

Her sight had been extraordinary as a human but once turned she found she could diagnose almost anything simply by looking at a body. She'd clocked me as a fellow vampire simply from watching an interview of mine from the opening at the school. She'd seen the sheen of my skin despite the way television dappled it out. She'd known about me, at the very least, for some time but had never had any reason, or desire, to know me or the school.

It seemed things had changed.

We also learned that Benny had been a small time pickpocket back in the thirties and he'd picked the wrong pocket. Namely Ruth's. He shuddered as he told the story and from his thoughts I could tell that whilst he was grateful Ruth had chosen to change him rather than drain him the choice, like it was for all of us, had come at a hell of a price.

Carey had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The younger of Ruth's two children he had been turned just thirteen years ago in the gaming room of Ruth's casino slash bar. He'd been holidaying with his wife and children when a fight had broken out at the machines beside where he'd been playing the slots. He'd been glassed and would've bled out right there on the carpet had Benny not convinced Ruth to spare him. He too had been given the choice to be changed or left to die his natural death.

Neither of them were considered strong willed so they fit with Ruth quite well, as long as they did as she asked.

Ruth herself was and interesting character. Turned in 1939 by a vampire named Landon she had fallen for before knowing what he truly was. They'd had a brief but passionate affair and then he'd disappeared. For Ruth it was as though he'd fallen off the face of the earth. For the next thirteen years she'd grieved, never knowing what had become of him. Then she'd been changed herself but had never truly given up finding him.

She too had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had lain bleeding in the street in Chicago after being caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs conducting a turf war there. She never knew the identity of her sire and had spent the last seventy odd years searching for him, and for Landon.

I got the impression, by listening to her thoughts as she relayed her story for us, that the reunion wouldn't be a pleasant one should they ever meet again.

The second group were two men from ironically, Chicago. As soon as Ruth learned this she questioned whether or not either of them knew of Landon and she was visibly disappointed to learn that they did not.

Their story was just as fascinating as Ruth's had been although neither of the pair had a gift that we could add to the war map. I tried my best not to be disappointed with that. I didn't want anyone to have to fight but if we did I wanted as much firepower as we could possibly muster.

Rupert was a red headed, curly haired, freckle covered nerd. That's how Em described him in his mind and I had to agree. We learnt that he had once been a very shrewd accountant and a bit of a smooth talker. Unfortunately he got cocky and smooth talked – his description – a Chicago mobster in 1951. The description thought of most around the room wasn't smooth talked, it was scammed.

No matter. What mattered was that the mob eventually caught up with him and in 1954 they left him to die in an alley when Monroe smelled the blood and decided to change him rather than eat him.

Monroe, whose real name was Hank, apparently had a tattoo of Marilyn Monroe on his rear and he'd been known as Monroe ever since.

I cringed as Emmett's thoughts turned to Bella baring her tattoo yet again. Thankfully he took heed of my growl and said nothing, though the mental ribbing I got for growling may not have actually been worth it.

Monroe himself was a former US Army Staff Sergeant who had served in Vietnam. It turned out he didn't need to have a gift to be useful because even as a human he'd been a master tactician. Now that he'd seen a few vampire battles he was practically an expert.

Jaz and Peter didn't wait to be introduced to the last two males who'd arrived. They bore Monroe off to the dining room and as the rest of us were introduced to Clancy and Shug they began to pick his brains for anything that would help us in the clearing.

Shug looked normal. He was dressed in your basic black suit with a crisp white shirt underneath. Clancy, however, was decked out in the most lurid green lounge suit I'd ever laid eyes on. And I'd lived through the seventies!

This pair was from no fixed address though they didn't consider themselves as nomads and preferred to move from state to state and stay for short bursts in properties Clancy owned.

In the two minutes since being introduced to us Clancy had said the word sorry four times. The first time whilst tripping on the perfectly flat surface of the living room floor. Again as he caught his knee on the edge of the coffee table as he led Shug – pronounced '_sh-oo-g'_- to a sofa. Once more as they sat and Clancy missed the edge of the seat and ended up on his ass on the floor. And once again when he'd accidentally leaned against Shug – whose name we learned was actually Malvern and whom Clancy had nicknamed Shug, short for Sugar, because it had been love at first sight.

Well, it had been love at first sight for Clancy, but not for Shug. Shug was blind.

He'd been born congenitally blind and had been abandoned to an institution almost from birth. We never learned how Clancy came to be not only Shug's lover but also his sire and it seemed that neither of the pair was willing to say.

They'd come to fight but the thoughts in the house echoed my own. A blind man in a fight? Yeah right. But, I was careful to welcome them both to our home and to thank them for coming. I also thanked them for their bravery. It couldn't have been an easy decision to make. To come here and fight with us when one half of your pairing couldn't protect himself. I'd make sure that both of them stayed together, at the rear of the formation, and that they were given an important job.

**BPOV**

Ha! It wasn't me who finally asked Alice to make a chart!

It was Esme! Ha!

And finally there was a vampire who was clumsier after their change than I'd been as a human. Double Ha!

Oh, and I won the sweep. There _were_ gay vamps, not just lesbian ones. Triple Ha!

* * *

**A/N: This was such a fun chapter to write. With new vampires arriving almost daily between now and the fight I'll be able to have some serious fun with their back stories. **

**It didn't feel so much like writing a 'who's who' this time, as it did last time so many new vamps arrived. I hope you like it just as well this time. **

**Thanks for reading and please review. **


	41. Chapter 30 - Back to the story

Chapter 30 – They Came in Pairs

**BPOV**

Monday morning felt relatively normal as the four of us ran toward the school.

Nessa had her backpack on her back as normal and her lunch and homework were in it. Seth had his bag, ditto to the lunch and homework. Edward had his briefcase and I had my class notes. Normal.

Edward held assembly as usual. He reminded the students not to venture onto school grounds out of hours or on weekends and praised two of the Year eleven girls for having gained early acceptance into prestigious colleges for the following year. His music class performed the national anthem as usual. The teachers were all present and accounted for and everything was normal. Normal.

It was strange not to see Flick during the day but we talked on the phone a lot when I had a break. Alice, Jaz and Em went about their business as usual too. Normal.

Riley was at school and looked more normal than the last time I'd seen him. He'd obviously slept and had eaten too because the hollow, sallow look he'd been sporting before was gone. In its place was his normal appearance. Normal.

If everything looked so normal why did I feel so out of it?

Was it the pressure of having to appear normal?

Was it the strain of knowing that once again I was going to have to fight for my family?

Or was it the nagging feeling in the back of my head that something – other than the obvious something – wasn't right?

I went to Edward's office during the longer lunch break to talk to him about my gut feeling but was told, very politely by Ms Collins, that he'd asked not to be disturbed as he was in a very important meeting with Mr Piper.

I figured it was council business and left them to it. Even though Linda had been warned before that nothing was too important for Edward to be interrupted if it was by me I let it go.

I knew there would be other chances for me to voice my opinions on the mysterious Naj so I let it go and went back to my office for the break and another gossip session with the housebound Flick.

Classes went smoothly during the afternoon session and the two children were right where they were supposed to be when it was time for the run home. Edward would be hours, as he always was on weekdays so the three of us ran happily through the forest towards the cottage.

Homework was duly done. An evening meal was prepared. Laundry was folded and beds were stripped and remade. It was all so normal.

At seven Seth went home to the Rez for some 'pack time' and Nessa and I headed to the big house for our regular visit.

There weren't any new faces to be met so we both settled in to the various conversations being held between the small groups dotted around the house that night.

Ruth was great fun. Clancy was a klutz. Rupert was creepy and Sabine was fully dressed.

Normal.

Edward arrived at nine and by ten the three of us were back at the cottage in time for Nessa to be in bed.

**EPOV**

There was something on her mind. All she had to do was voice it and we could talk about it but she seemed reluctant.

It looked like it was going to be up to me to break the ice, so I did.

I found her in the study staring absently at a student's written work. I kissed the back of her neck softly and took up a position on the window seat.

"How was your day?" I asked casually.

"Normal," she all but hissed.

Clue number one I thought as I changed bait. "Normal is good, right?"

"Oh yeah, normal is fantastic," she growled and stuffed the papers back into the folder at her elbow.

"It isn't?" I asked.

"That depends," she replied and swivelled the chair around to face me. "Don't you think it's weird that Naj just called Eleazar, out of the blue, to warn him that Kirkov was pissed at you?"

Ahh. This again. Right.

"What about that makes you think it's anything other than what it appears to be at face value?" I ask.

"Jesus Edward. It's just you and me here. You can dumb it down," she laughed. "It's suss."

"Suss?" I ask with raised eyebrows. I didn't know the term.

"Yeah, suss. Its Australian slang for suspect."

"Fucking Australians," I mumble and earn another soft growl. "Alright, you think its suspect. Give me something to work with."

She thinks on that whilst settling herself between my knees, her back to my chest, on the window seat. I kiss her neck again and wind a lock of her hair around my fingers.

"Okay, just remember these are random thoughts, okay?"

"Alright. Random." I agree.

"Eleazar knows Naj, obviously, because she called him specifically. But, when I asked Eleazar he says he knows nothing about her. Isn't that odd?"

"Probably not. I knew the names of lots of other vampires before I knew anything personal about them. I knew that Alistair existed for fifty years before I ever actually met him."

"Alistair doesn't count," she giggles. "He didn't want to be met. Okay, then how do you explain why Naj would be concerned for Eleazar's safety, or ours, if they didn't know each other quite well?"

I think on that but can come up with no answer and tell her so.

"He can't tell us anything about Naj's coven. Nothing. Not how many. Not where. Not when. Nothing at all."

"That's not unusual Bella. Old vampires don't want that information floating around. You know that."

"Yeah, I do. But Naj came to us. She found Eleazar and told him about the threat. If she wants to warn us, and to come here to help, what's the point of hiding that information from us?"

"How do you know she is hiding the information though? We haven't laid eyes on her yet, and nobody's asked her anything yet. It could be that she will reveal all once she arrives."

Bella doesn't wait for me to fully finish that statement before she's off and running with her next. "And, how did Naj actually know that Ana had defected? If Raul and Daria didn't know how did Naj know before them that she'd gone to throw her lot in with Kirkov? What is Naj's tie to the Romanians in the first place?"

"I don't know the answer to that. Have you asked Eleazar?"

"I have. And you know what he said?"

"If I did I'd already know, wouldn't I smarty pants?" I chuckle.

"He said he didn't know if Naj knew the Romanians specifically."

"Well there you go, he doesn't know." I tell her, hoping that I'd allayed her concerns sufficiently. I hadn't.

"And if Naj advised Eleazar that Kirkov was coming for us that means she knows either _of_ Kirkov or she _knows_ Kirkov personally. Why not tell us that when Alice spoke with her? She must know we'll need as much information about him as we can gather so we can defend ourselves."

"Perhaps there wasn't time?" I say quickly. "Alice only spoke with the girl very briefly. Most of her contact was with Eleazar. If she knew anything of Kirkov he'd have asked her and she'd have told him."

"Would she? And would he tell us if she did?"

"Hang on a minute now," I say sternly. "Are you suspicious of Naj or Eleazar?"

"Can't it be both?" she asks.

"Of course it can, but I can't follow if you are switching sides," I laugh.

Bella leaps out of my lap and slaps me on the chest. "Oh sure Edward. Laugh it up. I mean, it's not important that we could be getting double crossed here. It's only your family at stake."

With that my beautiful wife stalked from the room and went to bed.

**BPOV**

He was totally infuriating!

Nobody took me seriously. Nobody wanted to listen to what I thought and nobody else thought there was anything weird about the situation at all.

It pissed me off.

Edward tried to butter me up during the night but I ignored all his efforts. If he wasn't going to take my concerns seriously I wasn't going to take his erection seriously.

I tried talking to the one rational thinker in the family – Carlisle – but he dismissed my concerns with the same patronising 'old vampires don't like their information to get around' blah, blah, blah as everyone else I'd approached.

I countered with 'nobody knows how long Naj has been a vampire so maybe she was only changed twenty minutes ago and we're all being duped here' but he just didn't see it.

So I did what any self respecting female would do. I filed it all away under the heading 'When this blows up in our faces I'm so going to tell you I told you so'.

I went about my business then. I went to work, I loved my kids, and I took some notice of my husband's erections. Some notice. It may have taken me a day or two that week to really get into it, but by Friday I was _way_ into it again.

As the countdown continued and we approached the two weeks to go mark the mood in and around the houses and the school began to change. There were so many of us gathered now that it became impossible for us all to be in the big house at the same time. Even the yard wasn't working out too well.

The group split into two after Edward tried to hold a war meeting in the yard and had to repeat the same instructions five times. Not because the vampires at the back couldn't hear, we could all hear just fine with our superb hearing, but because he couldn't bring his sticky note collage out into the yard and what he was trying to tell us made no sense without the visual aid.

One group, those of us who'd been at the first fight and felt they could now hold their own stayed at the big house and helped Edward, Peter and Monroe plan the fight. The rest of us, plus anyone who had been at the first fight and wasn't confident in their fighting skills yet – which was me – went to the clearing for fight lessons. Again.

For Seth and Nessa this was a problem. Neither of them was comfortable in the clearing and whilst Seth had overcome the worst of his fears – and his reactions – to being in the clearing Nessa had not.

So for the first few days of training she sat on the sidelines with Seth and they talked about what had happened last time and tried to desensitize each other a little.

By day four she was alright. Not confident and not happy to be on this particular piece of ground, but able to learn on it at the very least.

Edward refused to take part. Again.

Jaz was teacher. Again.

He was just as patient as he had been that first time around too. So many of our new friends had never faced anything scarier than a particularly feisty human, so they had a lot to learn.

For me it was about teaching Nessa all I could and about practising using my shield.

I'd had no use for it since the last fight so I spent hours in the clearing during the early evenings trying to bring as many bodies in underneath it as I could. After just the first few hours I could accommodate safely another full outer row of the group than I had been able to last time.

Zaffy praised me endlessly even though she couldn't help me fine tune the ability herself. I found myself wishing that another shield would magically arrive to help both with the fight and with me.

We knew that Raul had a shield in his guard but that group still hadn't arrived. So I was on my own until then.

Nessa was learning how to block strikes and how to use what little body weight she had to repel an attack rather than instigate one. Jaz and I agreed that defence was going to be Nessa's best weapon.

That and the slight chance that once again she and Seth may be able to run away.

Em and Rose agreed that should the opportunity present itself the two little girls, with their shifter mates/protectors, should get the hell out of Dodge as fast as they could. So we all practiced that as much as we could at the end of each lesson.

Jaz had his pupils line up as though they were in ranks, approximately where they would actually begin the fighting, and Seth and Riley practiced getting through the ranks and away towards the direction of the Rez with the two little girls in tow.

Those in the lines were taught to watch for their movements and try to aid the two shifters anyway they could if it looked like it was going to be possible for them to flee.

As big as Nessa now was it was decided that their best bet was still going to be for her to climb up onto Seth's back and run that way. She was fast over flat ground but she was easily distracted and it was impractical to think that they'd have a clear, flat path through the fight anyway.

Riley had decided to shift into a wolf form on the day too should it be possible to get away. He wasn't as steady as Seth, and he'd have no mental connection with any of the other wolves, but with practice he'd do just fine.

He and Seth would spend some time in the forest together and Seth would show him the quickest and safest routes to and from the Rez before the big day. They'd also practice swimming with the girls on their backs should that be necessary.

It was decided that this time around we'd have a few wolves on the Rez, just in case. Nobody wanted another scenario like what we'd found last time. Santiago had managed to sneak away from the fight without being detected and Seth had had to fight him alone.

I for one didn't want a repeat of that scenario least of all because I couldn't quite stomach the thought of having to suck venom from my son ever again.

On the Friday afternoon the two groups were going to split into smaller groups and head out into the forest and scout locations for a rear attack formation and then regroup at the big house to report what they'd found.

The immediate Cullen family didn't need to go off scouting; we knew this area like the backs of our hands. Besides, none of us would be hiding out for a rear assault. We were going to be right up front, where we belonged. Those with special talents, or those that weren't that confident they could fight in a frontal assault, were going to be the ones out there, not us.

That's how we managed to meet Raul and Daria – and Naj and her coven – before everyone else.

It was almost like a normal Friday night in the big house before they arrived. Alice and Jasper were in their rooms doing whatever it was they did in their rooms. Rose and Em were with Edward and I in the living room watching the two small girls play Monopoly with Seth and Riley. Carlisle and Esme were watching television in their suite.

If it wasn't for the fact that there were near on a hundred and fifty vampires and wolves in the forest you could've been forgiven for thinking we were a normal family surprised by late night international visitors.

As it was they didn't surprise us all that much. Edward heard the new mental voices, as did Renesmee, long before they knocked on the front door.

"Take the girls upstairs," was Edward's standard order.

The two girls in question didn't even wait for an adult to accompany them. They took off up the stairs and as soon as Edward heard the door shut to Nessa's little loft bedroom he and Carlisle greeted our new guests.

I didn't recognise anyone. I hadn't taken too much notice of the physical features of Raul and Daria that day. To me they had just been observers, like our English friends, and just numbers at the back of the fight.

The brother and sister were just like I'd imagined though. Tall, dark and quietly reserved. They also looked utterly terrified as they were ushered into the house.

**EPOV**

"Please, don't be afraid. You have nothing to fear here," I told the small group as they came through the doors and stood stock still in the foyer.

'_Eleazar, where is Eleazar? He swore he'd be here for the introductions.' _ Raul was thinking as he moved inside and took a position in front of his sister and a woman I assumed was his new mate.

"Eleazar is in the forest with our other guests. They are scouting places for our people to hide should Kirkov mount a rear attack," I tell a startled Raul.

"You are the one who can read us?" he asked me hesitantly.

"I am," I told him as I stepped forward, hand extended. "I'm Edward Cullen."

He took a long, hard look at my hand then took it. We shook firmly, all the while his eyes never left mine. His mind was racing. He was cursing himself for having exposed his coven without more forethought. But he was also wondering if 'Dom' could sense any coming trouble. That was curious.

"I am Raul," he told me eventually, "And this is my mate Amelia and my sister Daria and her husband Dominique."

"I am very pleased to meet you all. Come in, come in." I ushered them further into the living room and noted that the two lone females at the back of the group stayed put, right by the front door. "We haven't met," I told the one closest to me as I extended my hand yet again.

"I am Fina," she said matter of factly.

The first thing that struck me about her was the rigidity of her body language and then it dawned on me that I couldn't read her. I tried. For a few seconds I tried very hard. But there was nothing to read.

"Edward Cullen," I told her by way of reply. "Shield?" I asked as matter of factly as she'd stated her name.

"Yes."

That seemed to be the end of any conversation we might have about that so I moved on to the woman behind her. This had to be Naj.

I shook her hand as she introduced herself and I found that I couldn't read her either.

"Are you a shield also?" I asked casually as we began to move into the living room to join the others who were by now introducing themselves to Daria and Raul and their mates.

"No, but I'm currently being shielded," she laughed.

"By Fina?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yes. She likes to keep me safe."

It was an odd thing to say considering I'd already told this group that they had nothing to fear here. They'd come of their own volition and had approached _our_ home without warning. If anything it should've been us who were wary.

Once the introductions were finished it was decided we should all sit. The only place big enough to accommodate us all was the dining room so both groups moved there. Raul and Dom were instantly interested in the war map and I asked Em and Jaz to talk them through the plans we'd already made. I wanted to learn more about Fina and her ability to block both hers and Naj's thoughts from me. If Fina could do it at will perhaps she could teach Bella to undo hers at will.

There was so much to learn about these two groups. So many things about them were fascinating to me. First, Amelia was American. She'd met Raul on a tour of his castle and had stayed. Second, Dom was gifted. His gift was as hard to explain as Alice' but it sounded as though he had a form of precognition too. But the difference between him and Alice was that her visions showed her people and the decisions they made, Dom's showed him objects. Well, as it turned out he didn't 'see' like Alice did. He _felt_ things.

He could predict objects that were about to fall, walls or buildings that were about to fail, machinery that was about to fail and things that were going to cause harm or injury. From his descriptions he hadn't had long to develop his gift as a vampire and this led me to believe that he was only recently turned.

Daria confirmed it as she and her brother began to tell us of their lives in Romania since the demise of their father and uncle. There was no recrimination in their thoughts, or their words, as they described how they'd rebuilt a guard and taken mates for themselves.

Everyone asked them questions. Jasper asked tactical questions about the guard, Rosie asked Daria about her life as a hybrid, Emmett and Carlisle wanted to learn more about Dom's gift and Esme wanted to talk with Amelia about her new life in Romania as opposed to her previous life here in America. There were only two who didn't ask questions. Alice and Bella.

For Alice it was simply that everyone else had already asked what she wanted to know.

But Bella's silence worried me. I knew she had misgivings about the validity of this group. I knew she was suspicious of Naj but I didn't think those suspicions encompassed Raul and Daria and their family members.

**BPOV**

I found Daria and Raul and their mates interesting, and of course I felt bad and guilty that we'd taken their father and uncle from them, but they weren't going to share anything with us other than the usual back stories that we'd heard from Eleazar before. The details of who and what made up Raul's guard was only interesting to the boys, they were the ones planning this fight. I was smart enough to know that I'd be told where to be, what to do and what to say when it was time for me to know.

So I for one was well past the point of interest by the time the conversation switched to Naj and Fina. These were the two I wanted to know about.

So when the conversation slowly began to come around to the Northern Russians I jumped at my chance to ask the questions burning at me.

"How do you know Kirkov?" I asked neither of them in particular.

Edward scowled at me but I ignored him.

Fina shifted uneasily but Naj put a hand on her coven mates arm and took the question for herself. "To those who don't live there Russia looks like a vast and uninhabitable place. But to us, the natives, it's actually rather small." She smiled sweetly at the end of what was a very vague answer.

She should consider a life in politics.

"Okay," I replied before someone else jumped in and asked their bullshit questions about family and lifestyle and diet. "But how exactly did you know that Kirkov was planning to come for us?"

"Bella," Edward admonished.

"It's a legitimate question," I hissed under my breath at him.

"As I said, Russia isn't so small. Word travels. Very fast and over long distances. A mutual acquaintance told me of his intentions," Naj answered clearly and without falter.

"A mutual acquaintance of yours and Kirkov's, or yours and ours?" I asked.

"Does it matter?" Naj asked in a way that I personally thought could be described as agitated.

"Bella, this isn't an inquisition. Naj, and Fina, have graciously come to help us. Naj didn't have to warn us but she did. We should be grateful for that, not question her motives," Carlisle admonished me.

I could see, from the unimpressed faces of my family that I was going to get nowhere with this other than to make a fool of myself and piss everyone off, so I dropped it and made the most false amends I'd ever attempted.

"Of course, you're right, dad," I said sweetly, bobbing my head a little and hoping it looked like I'd been suitably put in my place by my sire, rather than looking like my head was a bladder on a stick. "Forgive me," I added as I rose to my feet. "I'll go and check on the children."

I flew up the stairs but kept one ear on the conversation as I did, hoping Edward would make appropriate excuses for me. He didn't let me down.

"She's under a lot of pressure," he told our guests.

"Understandable," Fina agreed. "It's a tense time. Now, could you show us what you have planned so far, we may have information that might help."

I knew from that point on that there would be no further talk of motivations and how anybody knew of this threat. From here onwards it was to be war map and the documenting of gifts and who and what Kirkov had in his guard.

I was still upstairs with the girls – taking Seth's role as doll hair judge – when the other groups began to arrive back from their scouting missions.

This of course meant that our newest guests needed to be introduced. I was interested to listen to the reunion between Raul, Daria and Eleazar. From my spot right in the top of the house it sounded fairly normal. What interested me most was the introduction of Naj and Eleazar. When I thought this was likely to occur I chose that moment to bring the girls to the landing on the uppermost floor.

From that height I could see and hear everything going on in the house. There were people everywhere. Inside and outside. The pool house. The back yard. The front porch and even some in the garage. But the 'main players' in the drama I wanted to witness were all in the living room.

Peter sat on the end of the sofa, Jaz on the foot stool. Edward was standing by the door with Carlisle and Emmett. Luckily Charles and Makenna weren't too far away. They had taken positions on the bottom of the stairs with Nathaniel and Julian and Sabine.

I watched as Eleazar was introduced to first Fina and then to Naj. They all shook hands as everyone else did. They exchanged pleasantries about the long journey and that was it. Normal.

It was so fucking normal it nearly made my skin crawl.

I fucking hated normal.

"Um ah mommy, you thought a naughty word," Nessa giggled beside me.

**EPOV**

I'd known Bella was on the landing, as well as Nessa and Angel. Both the little girls were eager to meet Daria and were itching for a chance to talk to her about what it was like to be a grown up hybrid from another country.

I couldn't deny them their chance so I called for them, and my oddly erratic wife, to join me in the living room. I introduced the little girls and then moved to Bella's side.

"Well?" I asked her.

"Well what?" she hissed back.

"Learn anything?" I chuckled.

Bella reefed her hand from mine and stalked across the room and back towards the stairs and took up a position between Charles and Julian. It was an odd choice for her. I didn't think I'd ever seen her say more than one word to either of the men before.

"Bella, you have to let this go," I told my wife as we lay in bed that night.

"Why? Why do I have to let it go? Don't you care why Naj told us? Don't you care how she came to know?" she argued.

"No, I can't say that I do," I told her truthfully. She scowled at me but said nothing out loud. I tried a different tack. I pulled her to my chest and waited until she'd settled there. With her hair running through my fingers rhythmically I tried again. "Do you remember last time, when I was so angry at Eleazar that you had to stop me from killing him in front of Nessa?" I asked.

"Of course I do," she huffed.

"Well, do you remember that after that I ran into the forest and you came after me to talk some sense into me?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, do you remember what we fought about that day?"

"Sort of," she mumbled.

"Well, let me refresh your memory. I was angry that Eleazar had caused our problem. You agreed but you told me to put that aside and use Eleazar for the information he could give us about his brothers and their guard. You told me that I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. It was you who convinced me that it didn't matter why he'd come. He'd come to fight with us and he knew things and I should take what he knew and use it regardless of why he was giving me the information."

She sighed long and hard then. "Yeah, I remember that. But is this really the same thing?" she asked.

"I believe it is, darling, yes."

"And it truly is only me that thinks it's weird? Was anyone else at the house tonight wanting to know the same things as me?"

"Yes darling I'm afraid it is only you who thinks it's weird. Nobody else wanted to know the answers you're seeking. Their thoughts were just that we were lucky to have the information they brought with them, nothing more. I wish I could say I was sorry, but I'm not," I told her honestly.

A long silence ensued. Bella didn't move for long minutes while she mulled over what I'd said. Eventually she rose up onto one elbow and looked me in the eye. "Alright. If you can tell me you see nothing odd about Fina constantly shielding Naj, or any of the other stuff, I'll let it go."

"I didn't say I thought that part wasn't odd," I mused. "Perhaps odd is the wrong word though. More like I find it interesting. But the other stuff I'm afraid you're just going to have to let it go my love."

"Fine," she huffed and lowered herself back onto my chest. I resumed my ministrations with her lustrous hair and we lay like that for a long time before she spoke again. "I'll agree to drop it on one condition."

"Name it."

"I'll ask Charles if he thought Eleazar, Naj and Fina were telling no lies as they were introduced."

"Deal," I chuckled. "Now, the sun is going to come up in about two hours and Nessa will want a big breakfast before school. Wanna get naked?" I chuckled.

"You first," she laughed.

I had to let it go. Charles told me there were no lies told in the house that night. Well, not exactly anyway. He told me there were only truths told in the house that night. I wondered if that was the same thing, but a deal was a deal.

So I let it go and went back to playing 'normal'.

Classes went smoothly, there were no messages from home announcing any newbies and Nessa, Seth and Riley were going about their business quite happily. Flick was doing really well and had ventured to the outskirts of town twice now without incident.

Jaz, Alice and Emmett all turned up for classes and Rosie went to the garage every day. Angel went to the kinder, Nessa and Seth came to school, and Riley showed up on time and happy. Edward was in his office, Carlisle was at the hospital, Esme was at the house.

It looked normal but didn't feel it.

Apart from the threat of an all out war looming I was content to go through the motions for a little while longer.

Edward and I had already decided that we'd be taking a small leave of absence from the school, as would Seth, Nessa and Riley, for the three days prior to the fight so there was nothing to be done except teach, be a mom and go to fight lessons. Alice, Jaz and Emmett would take the same leave. We'd told everyone who needed to know that there was a family wedding and that we had international guests staying.

Antony and Ms Collins would handle anything managerial and all the subject heads were so happy and confident at the school by now that nobody blinked twice when told that the boss was going to be a away for a few days.

I'd already met with Antony and reinforced the conversation we'd had before the last fight. Should anything happen to us he'd be able, and was willing, to take the school forward.

On that Monday evening we held the biggest – so far – meeting at the school for all the gathered vampires, shifters and wolves. The hall was the only place big enough for us to not only have everyone present but also where Edward and Jasper could project the war map onto a big enough screen to that everyone could see their places.

The small groups who had gone scouting for locations said their piece and then Riley and his parents stood and argued for a different plan.

Edward didn't look keen as they began to have their say but by the end the whole gathered group voted that theirs was the best course of action.

Eve and William had spent the days prior contacting other shifters. Not necessarily ones who could shift into any animal they chose like the Stone's could, but shifters in general. And their speech was pretty vague. They weren't going to give details of anyone they'd contacted, or how many were coming to help, but just wanted us to know that they'd put the word out and there were others coming to town.

They argued that putting vampires in and around the clearing, hidden as best they could in the forest, was like sending lambs to the slaughter. The bad guys would smell them and they couldn't truly hide. Not like full blooded shifters could anyway.

Just as Riley had managed to hide his scent from Edward so could all the other pure bred shifters that were coming. They could station themselves in the forest wherever the vampires wanted them and be completely masked. To the bad guys they'd just look and behave like any other forest animal.

Granted it might look odd so many animals being concentrated in and around the clearing, but everyone had to concede that was a far better plan than the alternative, which meant taking large numbers of able bodied vamps out of the actual fight on the off chance that Kirkov would send his troops into the surrounds hoping we weren't covered for a rear facing attack.

It was decided that we'd run with the Stone's plan.

However many shifters could be found would put themselves in the forest and the clearing would be filled with any vampire, or wolf, who wanted to fight.

Final places, or as close to final places as could be decided, were put on the war map and then the group split into two. Those with gifts went to one side of the auditorium to talk about how their various talents could be used in tandem and the rest of us regular vampires went to the other side of the hall to talk about how best to get the children, and Shug, away should the need arise.

We'd done this before. Everyone, both those with gifts and those without, had practised how to make that happen but now we also needed to talk about the protection of the Reservation itself.

Sam, Seth and Paul led the discussion with a little strategic help from Sabine and Thomas.

A central location inside the Rez was chosen as the hub and would be treated as command central on the day for everyone involved. Vampire, shifter, wolf and human.

The whole Rez would shut down the day before. Nobody in, nobody out, who didn't have the ability to shift that is. Those that could shift wouldn't be allowed outside the Rez unless they were in their wolf form and communication was maintained with their pack at all times. Pairs would be patrolling the perimeter from now until D-day and on the day before the fight all humans would need to be inside the Rez before its borders were closed. That meant my parents would have to relocate there on the Friday after work.

The six youngest wolves, Eli, Carter, Aiden, Logan, Truman and a newly turned female named Mariah were all going to stay on the Rez on the day. They weren't happy about it but Sam's word was law.

Two older boys, Tank and Token, were also staying behind having drawn the short straws. They weren't happy either. But once Seth explained how fast his altercation with Santiago had come about, and how hard he'd had to fight to stave him off, they both settled down and agreed that their task might not be as easy as they'd first thought.

Pack communication would need to be kept open this time. Seth phasing back after he'd been hurt had cut him off from the rest of his pack and he'd been too far away for Edward to hear his mental voice last time. This time one wolf, at least, would stay in wolf form throughout the whole ordeal. No matter what.

Harry and my father were going to provide any medical assistance they could, if needed, and also maintain human communication with Edward and Sam if it was needed on the day.

Sue and my mother were going to be in charge of the girls should they need to flee the clearing like last time. This time my mother swore she wouldn't freak out. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know she was full of shit. She was terrified and so was I. She was going to freak out.

For two days after that meeting I hardly saw my husband or my extended family. Edward spent almost all his time at the big house with Raul, Dom and Naj plotting the war map and making contingencies. Nessa and I did our thing. She understood how important it was for her daddy to be up there planning and she also understood that I needed her close to me.

The panic hadn't set in yet and neither had the mind numbing fear, but it would. I tried to stay positive and look and act fearless during the fight training sessions but the cracks were starting to show. And not just in me.

Jared and Marcus had come to blows, Sabine and Sam bickered constantly, Enzo and Benny refused to be on the same team and Ruth had stepped in by cold clocking Benny upside the head which caused Carey to step in and then the whole thing escalated until there were nine against twelve and Jasper called a halt to the whole shebang.

Senna took offence at a comment Rennie made about females staying to the rear of the formation and another argument began.

Peter asked a nervous Maja to repeat a move and Alicia took umbrage. There was a loud discussion had about Peter's confidence in the Peruvians ability to protect themselves and when Marco stepped up to defend his coven mate Peter took offence as being called a terrible teacher and motivator.

By this stage Patrick, one of the Territorial wolves, chimed in to agree with Marco and then he and Peter were going at it. Charlotte, sensing her mate was in harms way, waded in and pushed Patrick. Sabine rushed in to defend Patrick, and then Charlotte and Sabine were pushing each other.

Jasper calmed everyone down as best he could and the class was abandoned.

That night it took me forty minutes to explain all the mental expletives to Nessa in a way that she understood. I wasn't convinced she wouldn't use them for herself.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Really cracking along now that I'm starting to feel more like my old self. **

**Thank you so much to everyone who have sent their good wishes to me and for all the lovely private messages. **

**Thank you for reading, and please review. **


	42. Chapter 31 - Back to the story

**A/N: You will find Coven notes in a separate 'story' under my profile.**

**These should help you all keep a handle on who belongs with whom and what they can and can't do. **

**Anyway, on with the story.**

* * *

Chapter 31 – A week to go you say?

**EPOV**

With eight days left to go things looked good. Amun and Benjamin had arrived, bringing with them their mates and happy reunions were had with all but Amun. He denounced Angel as a witch, as he had Nessa, but nobody really took too much notice this time.

His accusations held no sting for us anymore. Angel was as polite as Nessa had been when introduced and showed no fear or anger at being denounced a witch like her beloved cousin. In fact she was quite proud to be named as such because it reinforced, for her, just how alike she and Nessa were. Amun was not amused but kept quiet after that.

Hot on their heels came another new pair. This time from Mexico. A mated pair, Jesus and Camilla, and they were absolutely adorable. Both had been turned quite young and though they looked like young adults they were almost the same age as Carlisle!

They told fabulous tales of adventure and frivolity and everyone loved them on sight.

Jesus was particularly wonderful because he could do as Nicolau and Laurent could do when they were still on the earth. He could quantify bonds.

Nessa asked me what this meant and I had a hard time explaining it to her in terms she could understand. So too did Em and Rosie with Angel. Alice suggested a game.

So that's how our evening ended. Jesus stood in the middle of the living room at the big house while everyone mingled about. Pairs split up and covens shifted places until we were a complete jumble of bodies.

There was no way for Jesus to know who belonged to who because he'd never met any of us before.

We sat Nessa and Angel on the footstool in front of him and they got to point to each of us in turn as Jesus matched us up into pairs, or covens.

It was great fun and both girls loved it. They giggled and cheered when he got it right, which was every time of course.

Nessa and Angel were duly put to bed, in the big house for a change, at a respectable weeknight hour and the adults moved to the dining room to continue planning.

Just before the sun rose over the river we were joined by another group. They were from Arizona. Bella was so excited to meet someone from her home state and even more excited when Samantha, the leader of the small group, announced that she was a shield. Her mate Kellan, and their coven mate Christopher, were acquaintances of Peter and Charlottes from their many travels so they fit right into the group as though we'd known them for decades.

Bella and Samantha were soon locked in fierce debate about shields and Fina was looking decidedly put out to be left out of the conversation. She'd shown no interest in helping Bella learn the finer points of her gift and was, mentally at least, disappointed to see that Bella and Samantha not only hit it off so quickly and easily but that they showed no interest in bringing Fina into their newly formed fold.

It was a reluctant Bella who went to work with me later that morning. She wanted to spend more time with Samantha and practice with her shield. Nessa wanted to stay home and spend more time with Lucie and Daria, and Seth wanted to stay home to help plan.

So it was a pretty peeved group that ran towards school that morning. Most, if not all, of the animosity was directed squarely at me for being the one who insisted we do the right thing.

Turned out that school was both interesting and fun for us all that day.

Our friend Lisa, the girl who'd conducted the interviews right after the last fight, had returned to the area and brought with her her coven mates.

This excited Nessa no end. She loved Lisa and couldn't wait to introduce her to Jonathon as she'd promised last visit.

Stan and Louisa were duly introduced – in my office during the lunch break – and after that the others were less inclined to call me the Grinch in their thoughts.

At the end of the day the new group went home with us and Lisa was introduced to Jonathon. I had to hand it to Nessa. She knew people. Whether she knew them because of what she read from them or she was just one of those humans who could tell when two people were going to become instant friends I didn't know. But she had been right.

Jonathon took one look at Lisa, and she at him, and it was a done deal, just as Nessa had predicted.

We didn't see the new couple again until the following morning. I hoped my daughter didn't read from their thoughts what they'd gotten up to in the eleven hours of their absence because I for one wasn't ready to explain it out loud to her. The images and thoughts I was reading were decidedly blue. I hoped Nessa was suitably distracted by all the other thoughts in the room and wouldn't notice these ones in particular. One could only hope.

Seven days out and things fell apart.

Everything.

Up until that point we'd had a good few days. Tension began to grow as the date of the fight drew nearer but it wasn't until day seven that things really went south in a hurry.

The planning was starting to look all wrong. Everyone was on edge. Petty disagreements began to crop up. People were arguing amongst themselves. Whole groups were taking sides against other groups. The local wolves refused to participate in any further training. The out of town wolves refused to participate in any training that was led by Peter. The shifters still wouldn't tell me what their numbers were going to be. I still hadn't met anyone in either Raul's guard or anybody from Naj's coven. David was up my ass about the Council. Carlisle refused to help me sort it all out. Nessa and Angel were bickering with Riley and Seth over every little thing. And to top it off I had blue balls.

Something had to give.

Turned out I should've just been content with how things were. Had I realised that things could actually deteriorate even further I would've counted my blessings then and there.

Another new group of vampires arrived at the big house. Four in all. One female and three males.

Ava, Joshua and Michael were introduced around the gathered group without incident. It was only when the fourth member gave his name did things get decidedly heated.

This was a coven from Louisiana, which in itself was interesting enough for Ruth, but when the third male said his name was Landon all hell broke loose.

Benny and Carey did their level best to restrain her, and had I not read her intentions when I did things may have turned decidedly more violent than they did.

As it was Carlisle pulled Landon out of harms way at the same time that Rosie pushed him out the way, causing the three of them to hit the parquetry floor with a resounding thud.

Jasper must have felt her mood change and leapt toward Ruth at the same time I did. We took her to the floor and held her there while Jaz did his best to calm her. She fought like the devil though and twice I had to roll sideways to prevent my testicles meeting my throat abruptly.

"Stop this!" Esme screeched, but it had little effect.

Landon, by this time, had gotten to his feet and had shaken both Carlisle and Rosie off. He'd assumed a defensive crouch by the front door and was then flanked by his three coven mates, and Alice who had jumped up to help diffuse the situation.

Bella had, quite wisely, taken both the children and run towards the backdoor with them, ready to flee should it all escalate further.

Everyone else had sidled up to their mates, or coven mates, and were planning to defend themselves should either of these two turn this into an all out fight.

Ruth was still sprawled on the floor but was doing her best to dislodge me and was now having a crack at dislodging Jasper's wedding vegetables.

"Jesus woman," he hissed as she elbowed him first under his chin and then took at shot at his groin.

He threw his head back just in time to miss being beheaded by her right hook and I could tell that he was just about up to pussy's bow with this nonsense.

"Em, grab her other arm," he shouted above the din in the room. "Bella, take those children away!" he roared.

Bella and the girls took off down the path towards either the cottage or Emmett's.

Em did as he was bid and helped me Ruth her more securely to the floor. Within seconds Jaz had used his gift to all but put the screeching woman to sleep right there on the floor. Zafrina was projecting a calming meadow filled with butterflies and singing birds directly into her brain.

All the while Landon was hissing and growling. From his thoughts I could tell he had no idea what this was about and who this madwoman was. He was also wondering what sort of nuthouse he'd stumbled upon.

I stood and looked about the room to make sure there weren't any others who were likely to attempt to disarm the situation using violence and after I determined that everyone else was just puzzled as to what the hell had just happened I turned to a now pliant Ruth and her coven mates.

"Benny, Carey, step aside. Ruth, Landon has no idea about the grudge you're holding on to," I told the now oddly smiling Ruth as she watched a mother elephant pour water from its trunk onto its calf in a stream. I turned to Landon. "This is Ruth. Does she look familiar to you at all?" I asked.

He stepped forward, cautiously, and stared long and hard down at the now giggling woman.

He looked to me, then back to Ruth, then back to me. "Ruth?" he asked.

"Yes, Ruth," I told him whilst smiling. His thoughts said it all. He hadn't abandoned her. His sire had called him home and he'd been all but forced to obey because his sire had the same summoning gift that Maja had. He had never been allowed to return to where he'd met her, or turned her, and by the time he could – his sire having been ended during a bar fight in Reno – it had been too late and Ruth herself had moved on. He'd loved this woman, truly loved her, and he'd spent just as many years pining for her as she'd done pining for him. Only his longing had remained just that, longing. Ruth's had turned to bitter resentment.

"Zafrina, please release her from what she's seeing. Jaz, ease up a little and let's see if she's calm enough to hear Landon out," I suggested. If anyone else had a better idea they didn't voice it, or think it.

Landon asked his coven mates to back off a little and they did as they were asked, though all three remained in their crouches as a slightly groggy Ruth rose unsteadily to her feet and stared at him warily.

"Is it really you, Ruth?" Landon asked the shocked woman.

"Of course it's really me you great buffoon. They told you so, didn't they?" she spat as she came completely out from under Jasper's influence.

"I can't believe it. After all these years of searching I've found you at last," Landon whispered.

This seemed to stop Ruth in her tracks. She balked and for three long minutes she teetered on the cusp of pure hatred and shock at what he'd just said.

When she did speak it was in a very quiet whisper and it was also in a language I hadn't heard for decades. "You searched for me, bebe? All these years you were lost to me."

Landon, very cautiously still, moved a little towards her, palms outstretched in the universal vampiric sign of passivity. "Bebe, seventy-two years I have searched, and here you stand, lovelier than the day I tasted you first," he replied in rusty, but not incomprehensible Macedonian.

Ruth's thoughts turned to that first time and Jasper swallowed hard at the same time I cringed. He'd felt the change in the air and I'd seen why. Urgh. Here we go again I thought as Landon moved closer still and held out his hand.

Ava put a hand to his shoulder and quietly asked him if he was sure about this, to which he answered he had waited for this moment for nearly a century and nothing was going to stop him taking his beloved into his arms once again.

Esme sobbed as the two embraced. Alice sighed and Rosie clicked her tongue in true Rosie form. Bella, who it seemed had only run to the back of the yard and not down the path, had most likely heard it all and was now smiling widely at the backdoor, both girls at her side. Both Nessa and Angel were thinking how nice it was that these two had found each other again. Neither truly understood why it had begun as such an explosive reunion, but neither did they care. All that mattered to both girls was that their new friend Ruth was smiling and was happy.

They were both true romantics, even at this early age.

Landon released Ruth from the embrace and turned to face the assembled group. "I apologise for this scene, but please excuse us for a few hours, we have much to discuss." He turned to me and held his hand out, waiting for me to once again shake it. "Thank you, Edward Cullen, for bringing her back to me. It is a great thing you've done. We shall return, and when we do I'd like to hear your plans for this coming fight. My coven mates will learn all they can until then. Please excuse us."

With that they went out the front door and ran down the driveway. Their only thoughts were where to go and how to get far enough away from the house so as not to be overheard, or read, as they had each other for the first time in seventy odd years.

I cringed again and then turned to the new group. "Come in, come in, we've got lots to show you."

**BPOV**

I swear I was going to come out the other side of this fight bipolar. The tension in the house just kept building. Not because of the damn fight, but because we'd switch from light-hearted moments to violent clashes and back again in seconds around here. A vampire could get whiplash!

The house seemed to settle after Landon and Ruth left but I didn't think anyone trusted the peace very much. Each sound outdoors set everyone to staring at the front door, wondering who was going to turn up next and set the cats amongst the pigeons again.

Thankfully the peace remained. For a little while.

We got two more days to get to know those who had already arrived, and to plan as best we could what was going to be the final formation of the war map, before anyone new arrived.

When Wednesday arrived we were all pleased to not have to head to school. All the preparations had been made for our absence and while it had hurt to leave the day before I was pleased not to have to pretend to be in control anymore.

Inside the cottage, after Nessa and Seth were asleep, I could lose it and lose it I did.

The fear had arrived.

Edward and I ran for hours through the forest. We cried, we screamed, we raged and we loved each other as much as we could. And just like last time it felt like it was never going to be enough.

For the years I'd had him it wasn't enough.

For the three short years we'd had Renesmee that wasn't enough either.

Seth was just hitting his stride, just becoming a man, and the thought of either of them never having the chance to love the way I loved Edward made me heartsick.

It just wasn't fair.

I knew the others felt the same and some of them had been with their mates for centuries, but I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for myself that this kept happening to us specifically. To Edward and I. And to Seth and Renesmee.

When we went to the big house that morning it was once again teeming with vampires and wolves. They seemed to have put their differences aside now that we were so close to having to fight together, and for one another. I wondered if the truce would as short lived as the last one. The tension was there but I thought they might just be channelling it into mutual hate for what Kirkov was doing to us rather than taking it out on one another.

Groups were dotted around the property again that morning. Esme held court in the kitchen while Nessa and Angel sat on their usual stools and lapped up not only her attention but all the chocolate treats she could shovel into them.

Rosie and I left them alone. They could eat what they wanted and play what they wanted from here on in. Life may very well be too short for petty rules.

Edward and his usual group of men were in the dining room learning all they could about the new gifts available to the group. Michael, from the Louisiana coven, was telekinetic. Or at least he could use telekinesis to move things with his mind. I wasn't sure what good that was going to do but the guys seemed impressed with it all the same.

Naj arrived at midday with six members of her group for us to meet. Adding herself and Fina that made them the largest coven besides ours and it made me uneasy and Edward happy.

We were so different.

He was also ecstatic when he learnt that Tolenka, Naj's mate (and once again nobody had known she had a mate) had exactly the same gift that Alec, the former guard of Stephan's, had possessed.

Tolenka, just like Alec, creeped me out because he could render your senses nil. He could blind you, deafen you, and make you mute and unable to move all at once.

Of course he couldn't do that to me because I was a shield, but he could do it to everyone else I loved and that made me uneasy.

I supposed I should've been grateful that this time this gift was going to be on our side of the clearing but it was hard to think that way. Instead all I could think of was why Naj had kept this from us until the very last minute. After all, her full coven had been in the area for days now and we were just learning that another two of them had gifts.

Add to that that we didn't really know how many were in her coven and it seemed like a big crap shoot to me.

Preston, another member, could levitate. He could actually lift his whole body off the ground using nothing but his mind. He couldn't fly exactly, and he couldn't do it indefinitely, but he could go high enough to escape a full on frontal attack.

It was impressive and I knew that both Edward and Jasper thought it might come in handy.

I kept my opinions to myself once again as everyone crowded around to learn more.

All these things had been kept quiet by Naj for a reason. I was sure of it.

I didn't know what the reason was, and nobody else seemed as though they cared, but I did. If I'd heard that someone was heading toward Denali to eradicate our cousins I'd call them right away and offer to help, just as Naj had, but I'd also let them know what gifts they'd have available from those I'd be bringing with me.

I'd make sure they knew. I'd make sure they knew how many I was bringing, when we were arriving and what we could do to help.

Naj had done none of that.

I didn't get a chance to discuss it with Edward because right after Preston's big reveal another group arrived.

The usual scenario ensued. The children were shooed upstairs while Edward and Carlisle answered the front door.

Three vampires crossed the threshold. Two men and a woman.

"I am José and this is my mate Karenena, we are from Spain and we'd like to help," the swarthy man at the front of the trio announced as he shook hands with my husband.

"And I am Wyatt," the other man said as he too shook Edward's hand.

"Not Spanish?" Edward asked with a laugh.

"Texan," the drawl came back. "Any chance that Jasper Whitlock is here?" he asked while looking around the gathering.

"I'm Jasper Whitlock," Jasper said warily as he made his way through the crowd to the front. "Have we met?"

"Yes sir," Wyatt said as he saluted Jasper crisply. "We fought together once."

Peter pushed his way to the front then too. "Rodriguez?" he asked.

"Yes, that's me. Wyatt Rodriguez. You were there too?" Wyatt asked Peter.

"I was," Peter confirmed.

"You were in my charge during the war. You're one of Marias, from after," Jasper said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"I was. I am. And you let me go," he said as he stuck his hand out in front of him.

Jasper stared at his hand for what seemed an age then took it, shook it and then pulled the other man to him and hugged him hard. "I always hoped you made it," Jasper told him and then they broke apart. "Pete, this really is Wyatt." The three men stood staring at each other for quite some time before Edward coughed politely and the three new guests moved into the house to be introduced to everyone else.

There were no new gifts in these two groups so only basic information was gathered. That's when Wyatt dropped a bit of a bombshell.

"I'm not alone," he said matter of factly. "There's about twenty of us actually. They sent me because they thought Jasper would be here and he wasn't likely to kill me seeing as he let me go once before. I'll let the others know that everything's cool. They'll come by tomorrow."

"Holy shit," Alice laughed.

"Oh, seeing as you're really seriously planning this thing I should let you know some of the gifts we've got, right? There's Sophie, she's a tracker. And Abbey, she's fire proof. Comes in handy," he laughed. "Then there's Jackson, he's great, he can project mental pressure. It's a bit like being squeezed from the inside out, but he's harmless the rest of the time. Any chance you can use us?" he asked seriously.

Edward, Jasper and Peter looked as though Santa had just arrived to tell them that the Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy had gotten together and given them Kirkov's head on a platter for Christmas.

I could live with bipolar as long as the good stuff was this good.

But then again, Wyatt didn't know any of us, not really, despite him having known Jasper over a century ago, and yet when he'd shown up to help he told us his numbers, their abilities and when they'd arrive. Naj had not.

There was a rat, and it smelled pretty bad, to me.

**EPOV**

The surprises and the assistance just kept coming. Thankfully, since the violence of Landon's arrival, the others went far more smoothly.

Our English friends, Olivia and Zara – sadly minus Charles whom we'd so sadly lost during the last fight was absent – arrived hot on the heels of Wyatt and his good news.

This was a much more muted reunion as everyone who'd been here the first time embraced the two girls and spoke in hushed tones about their loss and how brave it was that they'd come again.

I knew from their thoughts that they'd not be spectators this time but waited until they voiced it before thanking them. It had been a hard decision for them to make and the journey had been broken twice by changes of mind and heart. But they'd come to us and I was very grateful.

My map was full to overflowing by this point.

The names of those we knew were each in a little square of paper and stuck fast to the dining rooms windows. There were blanks all around the edges where the shifters would be. We had no idea of exact numbers so we just went with a dozen or so squares of blank paper in a different colour and hoped for the best.

The same went for Wyatt's group. He gave us vague numbers and told us that there were some who'd come but hadn't decided whether or not to join in. Those he was sure of went on the map, the others we left blank in another different colour.

The Territorial Army had a colour of their own too and so did our own pack members. So once those were all placed the whole thing looked as though a clown had vomited on the window.

Alice and Esme had made a paper copy for us to take to the actual clearing on the day but until we were happy with the final placement, and the final numbers, it would remain in flux and right where it was on the table.

I'd stared at it for so many hours I could draw it from memory if the two copies we did have were ever lost. When I closed my eyes at night it was there. The little post it notes in their various colours were there. I could tell you where each note went and who it represented. I could tell you what each of those on the notes could and couldn't do. I could tell you who went with whom and why they'd chosen their position on the map the way they had.

I could recite the order in which our defence would manifest itself. I could recall which groups were going to back up which group and who was going to fall back, or come forward, depending on the scenarios we'd practised.

And that evening I realised that it was all for naught.

I still had no idea how many Kirkov was bringing and exactly what they could do.

I had no information about how he fought, how he got his guard to fight, or if he'd fight at all. After all, Jacob sent his pack and had never had any intention of fighting personally.

There was no contingency plan should that happen again. If Kirkov sent his guard here and didn't attend himself we could lose hundreds of people and he'd just remount his assault within a month and we'd be left with half our numbers and probably half our gifts to hand too.

Kirkov _had_ to be ended in the clearing. There was no other acceptable outcome.

And I began to understand that I had absolutely no way to make that happen.

It wouldn't take much for all our plans to come undone, or be rendered useless by one cog in a machine we had no idea how to fight.

I'd read the same thoughts from Jasper and from Peter over the preceding few days and had to admit now that they were right.

So I did the only thing I could do. I sent my sister away.

Alice, accompanied by Jasper despite her protestations that he stay and continue with the training sessions, headed for the mountains on the Thursday morning before the fight.

She had to go far enough away from anyone shifter, wolf or hybrid in order to get a bead on what Kirkov could be planning. But that meant that she'd be separated from us for god knew how long.

I made her promise to return at some point before we needed to be in the clearing, even if that meant one hour before we got started, because I could not fathom not seeing her, not hugging her and not speaking to her if Saturday was to be our last day on earth.

She agreed and her thoughts told me she was sincere in the promise, so I let her go.

The mood in the big house was sombre that day. It was as if Alice and Jasper had taken all the confidence the group as a whole had gained in the proceeding days with them.

Tension was once again palpable as everyone tried to come to terms with what the next few days might hold. Come Saturday evening any one of us may be in mourning or not here at all.

It was stifling to be in the house with those kinds of thoughts swirling about in every brain present and I was at once pleased that Jasper had gone with Alice. These feelings would've crippled him.

But for me there was no escape. Even at the cottage there were Nessa and Seth's thoughts to contend with. Nessa still didn't shield when she was sleeping so I was privy to her worst fears as they moved through her brain as dreams.

Seth's dreams, too, were filled with all the horrors he'd seen during the first fight. Watching Brady fall, Eric and the aftermath his death created, Stephan and I 'dancing' around each other and then the sheer terror he'd seen and felt as Santiago came through the trees on the Rez.

That night it got too much for me as I watched, third hand, Seth's panic that Renesmee and my parents in law, along with his own parents, were to perish if he failed to thwart Santiago.

"I have to go," I whisper to my wife as she lay beside me.

She leapt up, panic on her face. "Why? What's happened?"

"Shhh, you'll wake them," I nodded toward the hall. "Nothing's happened," I told her as I pulled on some pants.

"Then where are you going?" she asked as she too pulled some jeans and a jersey.

I didn't want to have to explain because I knew the children's dreams would upset her but I had no choice but to tell her the truth. "Their dreams," I told her quietly.

Her face crumpled. Just as I knew it would. "They're frightened, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they are," I told her sadly.

"I'll leave a note for Seth, I'll run with you. We should hunt anyway."

I grabbed her then, around the waist, and pulled her to me hard. I kissed her roughly. "Thank you," knowing she'd know what for.

"From here on in we do nothing without the other, agreed?" she asked sternly.

"Agreed."

She scribbled a note and put it on the pillow next to a restless Seth and then we ran.

We hunted quickly and quietly, sharing the kill as we had done every time since she'd curbed her thirst, and then we ran some more.

Almost all the way to Seattle and back. At a full clip. Hand in hand.

It was so freeing. Just to _be._ At top speed, just running together.

We slowed as we approached the school. It was the early morning hours of Friday morning so there was nobody there. It was eerily quiet. I liked it so much more when it was full of the happy thoughts of the children and teachers. Not like this. Dark, deserted, almost unloved.

"Come on," Bella whispered as she tugged on my hand.

We walked through the place, stopping at every building and facility. I had no keys with me so when Bella grinned and stopped at the backdoor to the auditorium I knew before she did it that she'd bust the lock. She did and soon we were on the stage, my beloved Bösendorfe in pride of place there on the polished timber floor.

Bella flicked on the stage lights and nodded toward the piano.

"Really?" I asked, not at all in the mood to play. It had been days, possibly weeks, since I'd last played for the sheer joy of it. I'd played in classes but it just wasn't the same.

"Please," she begged as she pulled the stool from its hiding place and patted the seat for me. "Just a little."

I flexed my fingers though they didn't need it. I cracked my neck though the muscles and joints needed no warming up and then I sat. The keys stared back at me but there was nothing I truly wanted to play. Something funereal seemed right considering my mood but I knew that would upset Bella. Something frivolous would please her but I didn't have the heart for it.

"Italy," she whispered and came to the edge of the lid.

I watched as she ran her hand across the satin edge, her perfect pale fingers leaving no mark as they trailed across it. I closed my eyes and tried to recall the utter bliss that our one trip to Italy had been. The sheer joy at meeting Nathaniel and learning that our child would be strong and long lived too. Recalled the pure pleasure of finally living my long held dream of having my mate on the lid of that piano, in that room in that city, at that time, realised.

When I opened my eyes to orient my fingers on the correct keys I could see that Bella now had her eyes closed. Was she remembering too?

The first minutes of the piece were cold. There was no fire inside me that would come forth and transfer to the piano's sound. Bella kept her eyes closed and I watched her. To her my playing probably sounded fairly normal, good even, but to my own ears I knew it was bad.

A slight curve came to her lips and as it did I too closed my eyes and tried to recall all the intimate details of that hotel in Italy. The midnight blue drapes, the balcony with its bougainvillea spirals through the wrought iron railings. The way the piano was raised on its own dais in the centre of that extraordinary room. The suede sofas, the scent of her as she bathed, the roundness of her belly that was filled with my child.

And then the music and the passion began to bleed from me. Its warmth began in my throat. It thickened as the emotion in the piece I'd chosen began to come to life. Two bars further along I opened my eyes and saw the most beautiful sight.

Bella was swaying, eyes closed, and a smile on her lips.

My fingers were really flying now, the notes so well known to me I no longer had to think what came next. My feet worked the pedals out of habit, deepening the resonance of the piece. It rumbled from within me, amplified by the astonishing sound this particular piano could produce.

The piece ended abruptly on paper but I discarded the last few, dying notes and began again, as though it was meant to continue seamlessly.

Bella hummed softly while she swayed and I, for a short moment, believed she was remembering what I was remembering as the smile spread further across her mouth.

"Do you remember?" she asked.

The question startled me and I lost two notes, but recovered quickly.

"Everything," I told her honestly.

Twelve bars further along she spoke again, but gone was the uncertainty and the fear that had been in her voice for the last two days. Now there was a husky tone to it that lit me on fire. "Tell me," she begged.

I drew a long pull of her scent and as her arousal assaulted my senses I did just that. "You gave me my dream," I whisper.

"You _took_ your dream," she corrected.

"I did," I agreed, "I took every single detail and made it real."

"Was it real? Was it close to what you wanted?' she whispered as she came a little closer to where I sat.

My fingers slowed a little as I relived that night again. "It so far exceeded my dream," I told her honestly. "You were perfect. It was perfect."

"It's still perfect," she said and I knew what she was telling me, without needing to tell me.

It was still perfect. Everything about her and I, and our family, was still perfect and it always would be. Even if something went wrong. Even if we perished. We'd go together and the perfection that was us would remain forever.

"I'll love you forever," I added.

The tune once again came to its natural end and once again I nicked off the end bars, ready to begin again, when she moved closer again and put her hand over one of mine. "Let it end, then play mine," she whispered as she came to stand behind me.

She'd learnt so much, come so far since her change. I had no idea that she knew this tune, or when it should begin or end, but she did. I did as asked and let it come to its end then began her lullaby. Penned so many years before but still as crisp and as bright to me as it had been the day I'd begun it.

"So lovely," she said as her cool lips met the skin at the base of my neck.

**BPOV**

I hadn't meant the music, I'd meant him. He was so lovely. I'd called him beautiful the day we met and I still believed it. Only now his beauty had so much more dimension than it had when I'd thought it as a child.

Outwardly he was beautiful and I had no doubt that even as a human he'd been extraordinarily handsome, but the beauty that he held inside him made his outward looks pale in comparison.

He felt things so deeply. He loved long and hard and fiercely. He protected us and he taught us, he laughed with us and guided us and through everything he was beautiful.

Some probably thought him staid, or old fashioned, but those things were the things I loved about him the most. His sense of occasion and his dedication to doing the right thing, being the right thing.

I trail my fingertips down the column of his throat and smile when I feel, and hear, his soft growl. I watched his fingers for a few moments as he played my lullaby.

Long, strong fingers made for the piano and made for me.

His unruly hair hadn't been helped by his leaping from our bed so abruptly but I loved it none the less. I tugged and pulled on the strands and he leaned back a little, allowing me better access to his throat and neck.

I nipped and sucked at his neck and kneaded his scalp, and still he played.

That night in Italy might well have been the playing out of a long held dream for him but it had also become one of my most beloved memories.

I'd steered him here, to the school, to distract him from his morbid thoughts but now that we were here, and he was playing, there were other ways I could continue with the distracting.

When the last bars of my personal music began to fade I pulled the stool on which he sat and he slid backwards on it until there was room enough between his knees and the keys for me to squeeze. I pulled the lid shut and sat on it squarely, my knees outside his.

"I'll love you forever, too," I told him as I lowered my forehead to his. "You told me last time that death meant nothing and I still believe that. Even if that happens we'll be together and I'll love you through the next life too."

He exhaled long and hard before replying. "If we survive this we're going to Italy." It wasn't a question and I knew then, should we be lucky enough to survive this we'd go to Italy, again.

"Yes," I told him. "We'll go to Italy and we'll do it all again."

"God Bella," he groaned as he pulled me off the keyboard lid and into his lap. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" I laughed. "You've nothing to be sorry for. You didn't do anything wrong Edward. This really isn't anything to do with you, you know that."

"It doesn't matter. You have to fight again. I'm sorry for that," he told me as he began to run his nose up and down my throat. "God, your smell..." he trailed off.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held him close then. Distraction had to be the game for now. If I let him sink into his regrets we'd spend the next days terrified and we'd miss out on all the amazing things there were still left to do and say.

With a finger under his chin I lifted his face so that I could see his eyes. "Do you remember that time at the cabin? You said there was only one thing you'd ever need from me. Do you remember what it was?"

He closed his eyes as he answered. "I asked you to love me."

"You did," I lean forward and kiss his lips gently. "And I do. And I will," I tell him.

That seemed to spark either his interest or my ability to distract him got a whole lot better because it was like he came awake then after a very long sleep. He pulled my mouth to his using the nape of my neck in his big hand; his other hand clutched my waist firmly, pulling me down onto his erection.

He still tasted faintly of the hunt. I let my tongue lick across his teeth as it made its way into his waiting mouth. He groaned long and deep as I did it, so I did it again.

This spurred him on and within seconds my jersey was on the floor and he was well on his way to divesting me of my bra. His mouth never left mine as his long, talented fingers found my left nipple and tweaked it, hard.

I wound my own fingers into his hair and pulled just as hard. I was rewarded with another deep groan. Pulling on the collar of his shirt I managed to tear the seams clean through and it joined my jersey on the floor.

He broke the kiss and pushed me softly backward until I was lying against the closed keyboard lid. He ran one hand down between my breasts; the other pulled the button on my jeans off easily. The little tinkle as it flew across the stage made me giggle. He smirked but made no sound. He was enjoying this and as soon as he was inside me I'd be able to find out how much.

He must have had the same thought because he stood then, allowing my feet to hit the floor. With the button gone it wasn't long before he'd removed my shoes and the jeans and I was half sprawled across the piano in just panties and a grin.

"Beautiful," he whispered as his mouth closed over a nipple.

His other hand began to undo his own pants but that wasn't what I wanted yet. "No," I told him, "leave them on."

He released my nipple and stared at me for a few seconds, grinned then returned to his task. He cupped my other breasts and ran the pad of his thumb across his name. He still loved it, it still fascinated him, the way it changed with my mood.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and tried to pull him closer but he wouldn't have it. Desperate for some friction I whined but it was to no avail. I may have started this but Edward was in control now.

"I'm taking this," he all but moaned against my now aching breast.

I didn't bother to answer. I wanted him to take me. I wanted him to lose himself in whatever dream he'd had about this place, this piano. And if he hadn't had any dreams or fantasies about it I had and this was pretty much how I wanted it go, so I let him lead.

**EPOV**

I knew she was distracting me and I was pathetically grateful for it. I needed this. I needed to be inside her and I needed to hear for myself what she was thinking. I had no doubt she'd hide her fear from me, but I was planning to hide mine from her, so we'd be even.

With her splayed out on the piano lid as she was I had access to her graceful neck and that luscious mouth. And with her leaning back the way she was her core was pressed tight up against my aching prick.

I pushed, lightly, just to gage her reaction. The moan she gave me made my balls twitch so I did it again, then again. Within seconds we were rocking back and forth against one another.

"Edward," she rasped and I knew she needed more.

I happily obliged. With a hand still cupping one breast I used the other at the base of her throat to push her back further still. Now she was lying across the Bösendorfe. "Fucking magnificent," I mutter as I let my hand travel the length of her torso. I give her no time to either protest at the speed I was taking us, or the time I was taking to get where we both wanted to go, and slide a finger beneath her soaked panties. "Jesus Christ," I moan as her moisture coats my fingers, "you're drenched."

"Oh god," is all she can manage as I begin to stroke her outer lips.

There is no way we'll be meeting _him_ anytime soon I think to myself as I enter her with first one finger, then another. I take my hand from her breast and use it to slide her panties down to her knees. "Cup your breast," I tell her, "tease the nipple for me." Her eyes fly wide open and she stares at me for just a minute. She's deciding whether she should, whether she can. We've not done this. Neither of us has pleasured themselves in the company of the other. This was new and oh so fucking erotic I could hardly contain myself at the thought of her doing as I ask. She does and I close my eyes for a second to once again relive how fucking magnificent she was in Italy as she did as I asked. But this is a new scenario. This is a new fantasy. I can take this wherever I want and I know she'll not only allow me but she'll love it too.

I watch her fingertips glide over her own nipple and the soft, plum coloured flesh there begin to pucker. She was panting now, either from my fingers or her own, I couldn't tell. Either way I fucking loved it.

Her eyes were closed but I couldn't take mine from her nipple. Fully distended now as her fingers tightened around it. "The other, touch the other too," I tell and this time she doesn't hesitate.

With two of my fingers buried to the hilt in her tight, warm core and both her nipples engaged by her own hands I've got a free one so I use my thumb to circle her clit slowly. I gain another moan and my balls clench tight.

She's breathing hard though she doesn't need to. The first sign that she was close to her climax was the speed with which she bucked her hips into my hands. She rhythmically tilted her hips upwards and each time she cried out a little louder.

I guessed when I thought she was almost to the point of no return and then I did the meanest thing I've ever done. I stopped. Everything.

I withdrew my fingers and stilled my thumb on her clit.

I swiped at her hands and she let go of her nipples. She sat bolt upright and cursed me good.

I grinned, which seemed to piss her off even more.

"What the fuck, Edward?" she hissed as she got up onto her elbows.

"If you want it you'll have to do it," I tell her.

She stares at me with wide eyes. I can tell she's debating whether or not she should, and whether or not she could. This was so new. I'd never asked this of her before.

And then she did something that had me so close to climax I had to actually reach down and cup my own cock, pressing hard at its base, to stave it off. She winked. She smiled then took one nipple between her fingers and began to pinch it. Her other hand slid slowly, so fucking slowly, down between her breasts, past her navel and into the tangle of curls at the juncture of her thighs.

I watched with fascination – and not a little lust – as she began to slide her now slick fingertip over her own engorged clit. I think I mumbled something because she looked me in the eye, but what it had been I had no recollection. I tore my gaze away from her heavy lidded stare and watched as she circled her clit then pinched it deftly between the pads of her forefinger and thumb. I was transfixed on her glistening sex.

Did I do it that way for her? Did I pinch hard enough? Did I pinch too hard? Could she bring herself to orgasm faster than I could? Was the intensity the same?

"Edward," she breathed out and I returned my eyes to hers with a nod to show her that I was still capable of simple thought processes. "I can't do this without you."

With that one simple statement every doubt I had fled my mind instantly. She needed me to participate or she couldn't 'get there'. Holy crap.

"Yes, you can," I tell her, though I doubt the validity of my own statement. "I'll help but I won't touch you."

She scoffed ever so lightly and I couldn't help but grin. I meant what I said, I wouldn't touch her, and if she wanted the orgasm she'd have to give it to herself because I was determined to watch her come undone for me. But, I could help without touch.

Trying hard not to think too much about my meat headed brother I recalled his advice, given so long ago. With that in mind I licked my canines and brought forward as much venom as I could pool on my tongue without drooling.

I leaned over her furiously rubbing fingers and waited until she stilled just a little, as I knew she would as I approached her glossy flesh. She must have been convinced I was about to touch her, despite having said I wouldn't help that way, because she removed her hand and stilled it on her thigh. I took my chance where I saw it and allowed the venom I'd collected to drip off the end of my tongue and onto her swollen clit.

To anyone who didn't know about this it would've looked as though I'd just burned her. But I knew about this, I'd done this to her myself albeit with my teeth, but the effect was the same this time without the need for touch.

She screamed, long and throaty, and climaxed instantly. And to me it seemed as though it went on for longer than usual. She bucked and writhed and continued to moan as it crested and eventually waned.

The second it came to its inevitable conclusion she leapt up, pushing me backward and almost over the piano stool. She grabbed me by the belt loops of my pants and manhandled me until I was backed up to the keyboard as she had been seconds prior. She tore my pants at the zip but left the seams intact, for a change.

My boxers, however, did not escape her wrath. They were shredded instantly and fluttered to the floor quietly.

And then there I was, hard as a rock, totally naked, sprawled awkwardly across the keyboard of my Bösendorfe. I was just coming to terms with how the game had changed when she brought me back to it with a decided thump.

"Now you," she hissed.

Now me what? I thought for about ten seconds before it dawned on me. Oh crap. I hadn't thought this far ahead. Of course she was going to want me to do what I'd asked her to do. Of course she would.

**BPOV**

The terror on his face was almost funny. Almost.

I wasn't done with this new game and I wanted what he'd just gotten.

"Now you," I told him again.

He did as I had done and thought on it for a few seconds before removing one hand from his side and grasping his shaft in a tight fist.

I couldn't help but moan as he began to stroke. Slowly at first, ringing the head with his thumb and fingers and sliding across its tip at each upward stroke.

Now I knew what the look of indecision on his face had been when I'd been touching myself. This was hard, pardon the pun. As he threw his head back and closed his eyes I wondered if I did it right for him? Did I use enough pressure, and in the right places at the right time when I stroked him? Did he like it fast, like I did it, or as slowly as he was doing for himself now?

Christ.

I doubted he'd tell me that he needed my help to finish as I'd told him but I wished he would. It was strangely unnerving to stand so still and watch my husband take his pleasure for himself, without any involvement from me.

"Bella," he moaned and reached for my hand.

I put it into his, not knowing what he wanted or needed from me. I didn't have to wait too long to find out. He pulled me across his chest and then pulled my finger into his mouth. His teeth nipped and his tongue licked and I too closed my eyes and moaned.

When I opened my eyes he was staring straight at me, mouth slightly open, and panting hard. His hand was a blur as he rubbed and stroked his length. His lips sucked my finger in and out of his mouth in a steady rhythm and it was hypnotic as I watched it disappear into his mouth.

His silvery venom coated it and it sparkled in the dim stage lights each time my finger withdrew from his warm depths.

With my finger still firmly in his mouth he nodded and lowered his eyes. I followed this path and watched the bead of cum form at his tip. He'd increased the pressure, I could tell, and his hips were bucking with each downward stroke now.

"Cum for me," I told him with a groan, never taking my eyes from the sight at his waist.

It was as though he'd been waiting for the command because before I'd said the last syllable his thick, ropy seed flew out of the head of his prick and began to shoot across his fist and onto his waiting abdomen.

I watched, fascinated, as his stroking began to slow as he milked every last drop from himself.

When it was over he let my finger slip from his lips. He grinned, his perfect lopsided one that I loved so much and I knew then that this was far from over. It might be the middle of the night, and only a few hours from dawn when our worries would creep into our minds again, but I knew as he took me by the hips and sat me atop his beloved piano that our evening was far from done.

"That was the appetiser," he cooed cockily as he joined me on the lid. "Now for the main course."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. **

**We're getting close to the big fight now. Another chapter (perhaps two depending on how long it takes me to flesh out this next part) and then its onto the war. In all its glory, hopefully. **

**Thank you to everyone for your continued good wishes. **

**I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a very happy, safe and healthy New Year. **

**Maxi**

**xxxx**


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